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Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.
COMMUNITY-BASED SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT
Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative

Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.
COMMUNITY-BASED SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT
Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative

Editors
Joseph Corcoran
Greg Mock
Contributing Writers to Equator Initiative Case Study Series
Edayatu Abieodun Lamptey, Erin Atwell, Jonathan Clay, Joseph Corcoran, Sean Cox, Larissa Currado, David
Godfrey, Sarah Gordon, Oliver Hughes, Wen-Juan Jiang, Sonal Kanabar, Dearbhla Keegan, Matthew Konsa,
Rachael Lader, Erin Lewis, Jona Liebl, Mengning Ma, Mary McGraw, Brandon Payne, Juliana Quaresma, Peter
Schecter, Martin Sommerschuh, Whitney Wilding
Equator Initiative
Environment and Energy Group
Bureau for Development Policy
United Nations Development Programme
304 East 45th St. New York, NY 10017
www.equatorinitiative.org
Cite as:
United Nations Development Programme. 2013. Community-Based Sustainable Land Management:
Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative. New York, NY: UNDP.
Cover photos:
Top: Top: Land restoration in the High Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Photo: Association Amsing.
Bottom: !Kung San game guards on patrol in Namibia: N≠a Jaqna Conservancy.
Back page: Pack of Simien foxes at sunset, Ethiopia. Photo: Guassa-Menz Community Conservation Area.
Published by:
United Nations Development Programme, 304 East 45th Street New York, NY 10017
September 2013
© 2013 United Nations Development Programme
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States
The Equator Initiative gratefully acknowledges the leadership of Eileen de Ravin, as well as the generous support
of its partners.
Empowered lives.
Resilient nations.
ii
Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................................................1
Case Studies................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Abrha Weatsbha Community, Ethiopia........................................................................................................................................ 11
Association Amsing, Morocco......................................................................................................................................................... 21
Chibememe Earth Healing Association, Zimbabwe................................................................................................................ 33
Community Markets for Conservation, Zambia....................................................................................................................... 41
Guassa-Menz Community Conservation Area, Ethiopia........................................................................................................ 53
Il Ngwesi Group Ranch, Kenya........................................................................................................................................................ 61
Itoh Community Graziers Common Initiative Group, Cameroon....................................................................................... 71
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, Kenya........................................................................................................................... 77
Makuleke Ecotourism Project – Pafuri Camp, South Africa................................................................................................... 87
N≠a Jaqna Conservancy, Namibia................................................................................................................................................. 95
Pastoralist Integrated Support Programme, Kenya...............................................................................................................105
Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme (HASHI), Tanzania...........................................................................................115
Shompole Community Trust, Kenya............................................................................................................................................127
St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association, Egypt.................................................................................................................135
Suledo Forest Community, Tanzania..........................................................................................................................................145
Swazi Indigenous Products, Swaziland......................................................................................................................................153
Torra Conservancy, Namibia..........................................................................................................................................................163
Ujamaa Community Resource Team, Tanzania.......................................................................................................................173
Village Development Committee of Ando Kpomey, Togo..................................................................................................181
Zenab for Women in Development, Sudan..............................................................................................................................189
Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative
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Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Community-based action, initiated and carried out by local organizations, has an impressive record of
successfully delivering development at the local level. Local actors are the chief stewards of the world’s
ecosystems – including drylands – and they make the vast majority of daily environmental management
decisions with their land use and investment choices. Over generations, they have used their traditional ecological
knowledge to manage natural resources, conserve and maintain ecosystems, and adapt to environmental changes.
Local civil society groups – employing community-based approaches – deliver a wide range of development benefits
when empowered to manage their ecosystems and natural resources. These benefits extend well beyond poverty
reduction and livelihood gains and encompass the social, economic, and environmental dividends that underpin
sustainable development.
Since 2002, the Equator Initiative partnership has been working to recognize and advance local and indigenous
efforts that reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. One of the primary ways
this is accomplished is through the Equator Prize, awarded every two years to leading examples of local sustainable
development solutions for people, nature and resilient communities. To date, the prestigious international
prize has been awarded to 152 local and indigenous communities, many of which are active in sustainable land
management in drylands ecosystems.
This case study compendium brings together detailed case studies on twenty Equator Prize winners that
have demonstrated outstanding achievement and success in sustainable land management. Each is from the
African continent and each tells the story of community leadership in addressing those social, environmental
and economic issues that are specific to drylands ecosystems. The intention of the compendium is to present
and promote these community projects as best practices in sustainable land management, and to offer them as
instructive examples of the environment and development dividends that are possible from empowering local
and indigenous community management of dryland ecosystems and resources. The case material, lessons and
guidance put forward in this compendium are offered as an input to the Eleventh Conference of the Parties to the
UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
1 Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative

Introduction
THE EQUATOR INITIATIVE: A PARTNERSHIP FOR RESILIENT COMMUNITIES
The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society groups, businesses, and
grassroots organizations to recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions for people, nature
and resilient communities. The partnership arose from recognition that the greatest concentrations of both
biodiversity and acute poverty coincide in equator belt countries, and the high potential for win-win outcomes
where biological wealth could be effectively managed to create sustainable livelihoods for the world’s most
vulnerable and economically marginalized populations. The high dependence of the rural poor on nature for their
livelihoods means that biodiversity loss often exacerbates local poverty. But by the same token, action to sustain
ecosystems and maintain or restore biodiversity can help stabilize and expand local resource-based economies
and relieve poverty.
The Equator Initiative aims to recognize the success of local and indigenous initiatives, create opportunities and
platforms for the sharing of knowledge and good practice, inform policy to foster an enabling environment for
local and indigenous community action, and develop the capacity of local and indigenous communities to scaleup
their impact. The center of Equator Initiative programming is the Equator Prize, awarded biennially to recognize
and advance local sustainable development solutions. As local and indigenous groups across the world chart a
path towards sustainable development, the Equator Prize shines a spotlight on their efforts by honoring them on
an international stage. The Equator Prize is unique for awarding group or community achievement, rather than
that of individuals. Selection criteria include the following:
• Impact: Initiatives that have improved community wellbeing and local livelihoods through sustainable natural
resource management and/or environmental conservation of land based and/or marine resources.
• Sustainability: Initiatives that can demonstrate enduring institutional, operational and financial sustainability
over time.
• Innovation and Transferability: Initiatives demonstrating new approaches that overcome prevailing constraints
and offer knowledge, experience and lessons of potential relevance to other communities.
• Leadership and Community Empowerment: Initiatives demonstrating leadership that has inspired action and
change consistent with the vision of the Equator Initiative, including policy and/or institutional change, the
empowerment of local people, and the community management of protected areas.
• Empowerment of Women and Social Inclusion: Initiatives that promote the equality and empowerment of
women and/or marginalized groups.
• Resilience, Adaptability and Self-Sufficiency: Initiatives demonstrating adaptability to environmental,
social and economic change, resilience in the face of external pressures, and improved capacity for local
self-sufficiency.
Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative
2

Introduction
UNDP AND LOCAL CAPACITY
Over the past two decades, UNDP has engaged with thousands of communities worldwide to support local
development in a variety of ways, from development of pro-poor infrastructure, to expanding local government
capacity, to helping communities prepare for and recover from natural disasters. A substantial portion of UNDP’s
local work has involved supporting rural communities in their efforts to sustainably manage local ecosystems in
a way that increases local incomes, empowers local residents, and maintains and enhances the environmental
services these ecosystems render.
Through this work, UNDP has accumulated a significant body of experience in local approaches to sustainable
development. This emphasis on community-based action is seen as an essential counterpoint and complement to
UNDP’s work at the national and international levels to mainstream environment, energy, and poverty concerns
into national planning and development processes. The UNDP-implemented GEF-Small Grants Programme (SGP),
the Equator Initiative, the Energy Access Programme, and the Community Water Initiative have together facilitated
thousands of local interventions and provided working examples of how to effectively localize the MDGs.
UNDP work at the local level is guided by four Strategic Priorities: promote rights, access, and finance mechanisms;
enhance environmental management and finance capacity; facilitate learning and knowledge-sharing, and
strengthen community voices in policy processes. These are all strongly correlated and interdependent, where
positive outcomes in one area result in positive outcomes in the others.
UNDP AND SUSTAINABLE LAND MANAGEMENT
UNDP is also committed to addressing sustainable development challenges in drylands ecosystems. Many people
living in drylands depend directly upon a highly variable natural resource base for their livelihoods, and about half of all
dryland inhabitants - one billion people - are poor and marginalized. This accounts for close to half of the world’s poor.
The Drylands Development Centre (DDC) is a thematic centre of UNDP dedicated to fighting poverty and achieving
sustainable development in the drier regions of the world. UNDP-DDC works through an Integrated Drylands
Development Programme to achieve three interlinked goals:
1. Mainstream drylands issues, including climate change adaptation and mitigation, into national policies,
planning and development frameworks, and contribute to the effective implementation of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification.
2. Reduce the vulnerability of drylands communities to environmental, economic and socio-cultural challenges
such as climate risks, drought, land degradation, poor markets, and migration, and build their capacity to
adapt to climate change.
3. Help drylands communities to improve local governance, management and utilization of natural resources.
To achieve these goals, the centre concentrates its work on several priority topics. These include making rural
markets in drylands work for the poor, managing drought risks, increasing land tenure security, and promoting the
decentralized governance of natural resources.
3 Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative

Introduction
IDENTIFYING BEST PRACTICE IN COMMUNITY-BASED SUSTAINABLE LAND
MANAGEMENT IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Land degradation is a serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, where up to two-thirds of the productive land area
may be affected. Over 3% of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) is lost annually as a direct result of soil and
nutrient loss from poor land management practices, with associated economic costs estimated at US$9 billion per
year. Communities suffer acutely from the resulting food and energy insecurity and foregone investments in social
services and infrastructure.
The drivers of unsustainable land management practices are complex, and practical policy responses require the
active engagement of local communities and civil society organizations. Unfortunately, previous interventions to
halt land degradation have tended to suffer from top-down planning processes, where land users are not actively
involved in identifying problems and finding solutions. Many interventions have been sector-based, such as
high-input approaches to increase agricultural production. These have met with limited success in addressing
what is a multi-dimensional problem, and have typically minimized community participation.
However, in recent years, the essential role of local and indigenous communities in sustainable land management has come
to greater prominence. For example, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification explicitly recognizes the important
role of community participation in sustainable land management and the fight against desertification. There is consensus
now that local civil society groups and community-based organizations can provide a vehicle for local level experiences
to contribute to an improved understanding of sustainable land management and to inform land management policies.
What is required now is an effort to: i) identify and raise the profile of leading community-based sustainable land
management solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, ii) fill local capacity gaps, and iii) strengthen the voices of local and
indigenous communities in a way that ensures that local civil society organizations contribute to the development
of pro-poor, sustainable land management policies.
In furtherance of this, the Equator Initiative partnership will lead a process to identify examples of local ingenuity,
innovation and leadership in sustainable land management in Sub-Saharan Africa. Building on the experience of
the Equator Prize, and working through its network of global partners, the Equator Initiative will recognize and
raise the profile of community efforts to reduce poverty through sustainable land management. Themes of the
prize are likely to include:
• the integrated management of international river, lake and hydrogeological basins;
• agroforestry and soil conservation;
• rangelands use and fodder crops;
• ecological monitoring, natural resource mapping, remote sensing, and early warning systems;
• new and renewable energy sources and technologies;
• sustainable agricultural farming systems.
The process of selecting winners will be used to collect information to better understand how the interaction between
policies, political processes and poverty reduction influences innovation and successful initiatives at the local level.
Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative
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Introduction
OBSERVATIONS FROM EQUATOR PRIZE DRYLANDS CASES
The case studies that follow—drawn from the pool of 152 Equator Prize winners since 2002—are offered as examples of
the kind of ingenuity and grassroots leadership that can transform rural development in dryland environments. Each case
study is an example of community-based leadership in sustainable land management, each is from the African continent,
and each tells the story of community innovation in addressing those social, environmental, and economic issues that are
specific to dryland ecosystems. Readers may find it useful to consider the following observations and conclusions drawn
from a review of this case material.
1. Community-based approaches can be highly effective. Community-based approaches to drylands management
are often at the cutting edge of efforts to promote adaptation to climate change, mitigate the risks of prolonged
drought and destructive floods, address persistent land degradation trends, manage fresh water, and create viable
economies in drylands communities.
Community-based approaches are an organic expression of the power of decentralized natural resource governance. They
have much to offer as a model for drylands management that can be sustained in the face of climate change and other
environmental challenges. Because they grow out of community demand and rely on community investments of time
and effort, they are often low-cost interventions that are well integrated into community social structures, and therefore
can be sustained over time.
For example, since it began its integrated program of sustainable land management in 2004, the village of Abrha Weatsbha
in northern Ethiopia has moved from a community facing imminent resettlement due to soil degradation and lack of
water access to a leading example of drylands restoration and climate change adaptation. Through a comprehensive
program of tree-planting, terracing, construction of check dams, wells and water catchment ponds, and the extension
of irrigation systems, village residents have recharged local aquifers, checked soil loss, and greatly increased water access
and agricultural incomes. Villagers drive the design and implementation of all land management projects, including the
enforcement of by-laws governing the fair distribution of potable water within the recovering watershed.
It is worth noting that the social benefits of community-based approaches to drylands management figure prominently
in their success, making these local initiatives much more than just an environmental remedy; indeed, they are a model
for delivering the complete package of Millennium Development Goals and catalyzing sustainable development in rural
dryland communities.
The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust in Kenya’s Chyuli Hills region, for example, uses revenue from a successful
ecotourism lodge to fund an array of conservation, education and healthcare programs that serve the Maasai of the Kuku
Group Ranch. In addition to supporting a conservation department employing more than 100 local Maasai in various
wildlife management programs, the Trust also supports 20 primary schools and a secondary school serving 7,000 students,
as well as a system of local health dispensaries serving around 8,000 people.
Community-based initiatives are also often best positioned to arbitrate and navigate the kinds of conflicts that emerge
in dryland ecosystems, whether because of resource scarcity or the different needs and land management practices of
pastoralist and farming communities. Indeed, many drylands ecosystems are plagued by resource conflicts between
adjacent communities or tribal groups or among different resource users within a single community. Communal resource
management initiatives offer a productive forum for grappling with and defusing or resolving such conflicts.
For example, on the arid rangelands of the Marsabit area of northern Kenya, a number of different ethnic groups practice
mobile pastoralism, sometimes vying for access to critical water sources. Pastoralist Integrated Support Programme
(PISP), a local NGO, works to increase the number of water points that can provide safe and reliable water for livestock
and people. Additional work to improve grazing management and to diversify the income stream of pastoralists has also
helped to reduce pressure on natural resources and thereby lessen tensions between resource user groups. PISP’s success
5 Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative

Introduction
in encouraging conflict resolution has opened up previously disputed areas for grazing, thus increasing the available
resource base and further reducing social friction.
2. Drylands problems often require collective action. Addressing large-scale problems like land degradation
and water scarcity requires action at a watershed and landscape level. Such an ecosystem-level approach, in
turn, requires collective action—the cooperation of many individual stakeholders to achieve a common goal.
Community-led approaches are particularly suited to engendering collective action, and therefore facilitating ecosystembased
interventions. The ability to pursue a common goal with a clear view of the costs and benefits, and the determination
to take the action required, is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Equator Prize-winning communities.
For example, facing degradation of their communal grazing area as well as conflicts between pastoralists and
farmers within the community, residents of the village of Itoh in Cameroon’s Bamenda Highlands came together to
adopt a new approach to grazing in the community. Community members established a “living fence” around the
communal grazing area to restrict livestock movement, improved the diet of livestock by planting high-nutrition
grasses, instituted a rotational grazing system to allow pasture recovery, installed a permanent water source
for livestock, and planted 30,000 trees in and around the grazing area to increase vegetative cover in the water
catchment area. The collective endeavor resulted in greater access to livestock forage and much reduced incursions
of livestock on community agricultural lands, and therefore reduced resource conflicts within the community.
3. Local institutions are key agents in community-based solutions. Local organizations—groups whose
activities are directed and carried out by members who live in the affected community—are key to inspiring
effective collective action, and therefore central to community-led efforts to manage drylands sustainably.
Supporting the success of these local efforts requires recognizing the legitimacy of community organizations,
understanding their lead role in community-based initiatives, and supporting their growth and maturation.
Local groups such as farmer cooperatives, resource user groups, self-help groups, local NGOs, or other CBOs, are
well-positioned to appreciate both the causes and consequences of environmental degradation and to understand
local threats such as the poaching of land, timber, or wildlife resources, or unsustainable agricultural practices.
Because they reflect community knowledge, values, and perspectives, these groups can interpret community
demand for change and channel it into effective local action. They are in a position to enable and encourage
participatory processes that fit the culture and communication style of the community. And they can often exact
compliance with rules adopted by the community to regulate ecosystem use and restore ecosystem health.
Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative
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Introduction
The community forest surrounding the village of Ando Kpomey in southwestern Togo, for example, was originally
planted in 1973 as a buffer against bush fires, a proposal put forward by village elders. Since then, the community
has established a forest management committee whose members are elected from the community and charged with
regulating all forest uses and enforcing forest rules. More recently, the committee, which has grown into a respected
local institution, has expanded its activities to include promotion of alternative livelihoods activities that aim to raise
local incomes and reduce pressure on the forest.
Local groups often draw heavily from traditional institutions, but may reflect the purposes, values, political
organization, and governance of more modern social assemblages as well. This can give them both local legitimacy
and the currency to meet modern threats.
In Sudan’s Gedaref State, the NGO Zenab for Women in Devel opment, for example, has targeted women farmers—a
previously neglected group—with agricultural extension services, seeds, farm equipment, and training to make their
farming practices more sustainable in the arid environment, and to increase and diversify their income streams. The
NGO also catalyzed the creation of a women’s farmers union to empower and organize women in agriculture.
4. Community-based initiatives can be commercially successful. Community-based initiatives can be effective
drivers of the local economy, bringing jobs and other economic benefits to impoverished dryland communities with
few economic options. As such, they can become primary agents in the creation of an inclusive local green economy.
Equator Prize winners have shown that it is possible to put together viable commercial models for sustainable
ecosystem-based enterprises through a combination of innovation, local knowledge, and good partnerships.
As one example, using a program of farm training and economic incentives, Comaco (Community Markets for Conservation)
has brought organic farming techniques to some 40,000 farming households in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, and connected
them to a distribution network for the organic products they raise. Comaco purchases farm commodities raised to its
organic standards, processes them, and markets them in urban supermarkets, guaranteeing its farmer members a good
return on their efforts. As another example, Swazi Indigenous Products is a member-owned company in Lubombo,
Swaziland that pays its members to produce seed oils which are then used as ingredients in skin care products. The Swazi
Secrets line of skin care products is now marketed in 31 countries across five continents.
These initiatives also frequently contribute community infrastructure such as improvements to water systems and
sanitation, schools, and health clinics—all public goods that support local economic and social development.
5. Large-scale extractive industries and land grabs threaten community-based initiatives. Resource
management decisions such as the granting of timber or mining concessions, or even the creation of parks or
forest reserves by central authorities, often work at cross purposes to the interests of community initiatives for
better drylands management.
The threat of losing control over local ecosystem resources can create considerable economic and environmental
stresses in nearby communities and undermine the incentive to manage these resources sustainably. Security
of land and resource tenure, then, is an essential dimension of investing in community-based leadership and
innovation. The certainty that comes from tenure security is the basis of good governance of local resources.
For example, when the government unilaterally designated the Soledo Forest in northern Tanzania as a Central
Government Forest Reserve in 1993 without local consultation, it disenfranchised more than 50,000 forestdependent
peoples in the 9 villages adjacent to the forest, and provoked an organized and effective resistance
to the new arrangement. In response, a process of gradual devolution of forest management authority to local
7 Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative

Introduction
communities began, ultimately resulting in the redesignation of Soledo as a Village Land Forest Reserve in 2007,
with the responsibility for designing and enforcing sustainable forest management plans in the hands of local
Village Environment Committees.
6. Local initiatives are scalable and influential. Many community-based initiatives have achieved significant
scale, becoming models with relevance well beyond the villages where they originated. One of the most organic
and effective methods of scaling is peer-to-peer demonstration, where community groups themselves act as
mentors and learning resources for other communities facing a similar array of drylands management concerns.
When properly empowered and enabled, local initiatives can lead to the kind of scaling that creates landscapelevel
change and transforms economies. Many community-based initiatives successfully scale-up to become the
predominant governing bodies for entire ecosystems, wildlife corridors, and agricultural landscapes. This scaling
phenomenon refutes the common but mistaken view that local solutions invariably remain small in scope and
impact. They are often the foundation on which national progress towards development goals is built. When
scaled effectively, landscape-level changes become possible, and improvements in watershed conditions and
ecosystem productivity can be pursued at larger scales, with increasing benefit.
Torra and N≠a Jaqna Conservancies, for example, are two of Namibia’s 50 community conservancies—communal
lands where wildlife management authority has been devolved to local communities—now in existence in the
nation’s arid northern and eastern regions. The number of community conservancies scaled up rapidly from 4 in
1998 to 50 today as word spread of the economic and social benefits associated with conservancy status. Due
to this rapid growth, conservancies now cover some 14% of Namibia’s land area, allowing wildlife populations
to rebound over large areas, helping to preserve or restore large-scale migration patterns, and creating new
economic opportunities through ecotourism to supplement meager incomes from dryland agriculture.
As another example, from 1986 to 2004, the Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme helped restore degraded
woodlands in the Shinyanga region of northern Tanzania, in part by reviving an indigenous land management
practice in which forest vegetation was preserved by communities in enclosures called “ngitili” for use as livestock
fodder during the dry season. While only 600 ha of documented ngitili remained at the Programme’s inception,
some 350,000 ha had been restored or created in over 800 villages by the Programme’s end in 2004, turning scrub
wastelands into recovering woodlands.
Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative
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Introduction
Many successful local initiatives have also achieved significant influence at the policymaking level, helping to drive
adoption of enabling policies that allow communities to become more active agents in rural development.
Successful collective management of community grasslands in the Guassa area of Menz in Ethiopia’s central
highlands, for example, led the government to designate the area as a Community Conserved Area in 2008—a
category of protection previously unavailable to Ethiopian communities, but now legally recognized due to the
Guassa experience.
7. Partnerships are essential. While community groups must drive local action, they cannot act alone. Effective
partnerships are essential to build local capacities, supply appropriate technologies and practices, help
connect local supply-chains to national and international markets, and to help communities tap the funding
and support they need to pursue their initiatives.
A variety of partners with different capabilities are often needed, and Equator Prize-winning communities in
drylands typically work with a range of institutions including NGOs, private companies, universities and research
institutes, and government agencies. Successful partners respect the lead role and autonomy of local groups,
while providing unique inputs, services, contacts, learning experiences, and grants tailored to the needs of the
local group.
The Shompole Community Trust, for example, which operates successful ecotourism lodges in southern Kenya
to generate funds for conservation, health, and educational services, has a complement of seven partners. For
example, the African Conservation Centre has helped to monitor wildlife numbers and train Trust employees in field
research techniques, while the Kenya Wildlife Service has trained community game scouts. Meanwhile, two private
sector partners manage the marketing and operation of the Trust’s ecotourism ventures. Grants from the European
Union Community Trust Fund helped finance construction and progressive improvement of the Trust’s ecotourism
infrastructure. These on-going partnerships have helped make the Trust’s ecotourism operations a profit center able
to fund the Trust’s work.
Governments are essential partners too, although the relationship between local groups and government requires
careful tending if the focus of decision-making is to remain with the community. Many Equator Prize-winning
communities have forged productive partnerships with governments by demonstrating their competency as land
stewards and their ability to achieve local development goals.
For example, the St. Catherine Medical Plants Association in the southern Sinai of Egypt was conceived and
nurtured by Egypt’s Environmental Affairs Agency as a way to support local livelihoods, particularly among the
area’s Bedouin women. Government personnel have been instrumental in helping the community to establish
protocols for medicinal plant collection and to establish markets for both medicinal plants and alternative products
such as honey and handicrafts. The governor of South Sinai also provides a building to house the association and
its activities. In spite of this close and continuing relationship with government, all components of the initiative
are owned by the community, and community members govern the association and its activities through its Board
of Directors. The autonomy of the association is further enhanced by the fact that it relies on its own incomegenerating
activities to fund its work.
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CASE STUDIES
Community-Based Sustainable Land Management: Best Practices in Drylands from the Equator Initiative
10

ABRHA WEATSBHA
COMMUNITY
Ethiopia
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Amharic l Tigrinya
Once on the brink of resettlement due to desertification, soil degradation and lack
of water, the Abrha Weatsbha community in northern Ethiopia has reclaimed its land
through the reforestation and sustainable management of over 224,000 hectares of
forest. Tree planting activities have resulted in improved soil quality, higher crop yields,
increased biomass production and groundwater functioning, and flood prevention. The
organization has constructed small dams, created water catchment ponds, and built
trenches and bunds to restore groundwater functioning. More than 180 wells have
been built to provide access to potable water.
Environmental recovery and rejuvenation have led to improvements in local livelihoods
through crop irrigation, fruit tree propagation and expansion into supplementary
activities like apiculture. Local incomes have increased and food security and nutrition
have improved through the integration of high-value fruit trees into farms.

Background and Context
The Tigray region of Ethiopia is located in the northernmost territory of
the country and borders Eritrea in the north, Sudan in the west, Afar in
the east and Amhara in the southwest. The region is characterized by
drylands and is highly vulnerable to recurrent drought. In the region,
as well as across the country, land degradation is one of the most
serious challenges confronting the rural population; it is exacerbated
by climate change, and brings with it cross-cutting socioeconomic
and environmental issues. In rural areas, where local economies and
livelihoods depend on soil productivity for agriculture – teff, sorghum,
wheat and maize, but also include sesame, horse bean, lentil, cotton
and various spices – the implications for food security are particularly
severe.
magnified the vulnerability of the resident communities to climate
impacts. In large sections, land had become barren, with bare rock
predominating on the slopes surrounding the village. The impacts
on local livelihoods and food security were devastating. By the early
2000s, conditions had become so dire that the community faced
resettlement.
Micro-catchment ecosystem management
Meanwhile, in 1996, the Ministry of Agroculture and Rural Development
in Ethiopia undertook a process of decentralization, working more closely
Drought, deforestation and land degradation
The topography of Tigray makes it acutely vulnerable to the negative
impacts of climate change and climate variability. Increasingly in
recent years, northern Ethiopia has experienced serious droughts
and inconsistent rainfall patterns, including rain coming much later
in the season and insufficient rainfall during what has historically
been the wet season. This variability, and the impacts it has had on
landscape level agricultural production and local livelihoods, has
been further exacerbated by deforestation. The northern regions
of Ethiopia are among the most deforested in the country. Without
the protection of the forest and vegetation cover, hillside soils
become easily degraded. Additional drivers of land degradation
have included unsustainable agricultural practices like free-range
grazing, which prevents the growth of natural vegetation and allows
the exposed layer of productive topsoil to be washed away during
heavy rains.
The village of Abrha Weatsbha, located in Tigray, is situated in a
sandstone area that was particularly vulnerable to soil erosion
and desertification. Land degradation had severely impacted the
productivity of the village and surrounding agricultural lands.
Poor, short-sighted land and water management approaches
12

with community-based and grassroots initiatives to implement locally
managed solutions to land, natural resource and water issues. Among
the approaches promoted was a community-based ‘micro-catchment
ecosystem management’ model. The strategy aimed to empower local
communities to reach consensus on actions needed to stop free-range
livestock grazing and mapping the options open to them, including:
cutting and carrying grass to feed livestock, terracing hillsides to
prevent erosion, damming gullies, and ensuring that any transgressors
of established community by-laws were penalized. The approach has
had its fair share of success: soil and water conservation activities have
been carried out on more than 956,000 hectares of land throughout the
country; vegetation enclosure management is being implemented on
more than 1.2 million hectares of land; and there are more than 224,000
hectares of land under sustainable forest management. The microcatchment
ecosystem management model has resulted in the planting
of over 40 million tree seedlings (with a 56 per cent survival rate) and the
building of 180 wells that provide needed access to potable water.
Though Abrha Weatsbha was not one of the four communities selected
for the piloting of the ‘micro-catchment ecosystem management’
model, Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management Initiative was
founded in this context and based its approach on lessons learned
from the successes and obstacles faced in carrying out this strategy.
One important transplant from the ‘micro-catchment ecosystem
management’ model was enlisting the guidance and support of the
Ministry of Agriculture’s extension system – one of the largest and most
robust of its kind in the world, with development agents working in
farmer training centres across all regions of the country. Most of these
extension agents focus on knowledge management and technical
capacity building for smallholder farmers and pastoralists with a view
to improving the overall sustainability and productivity of small farms.
Community-based adaptation to climate change
In 2004, the Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management
Initiative was formed to address the challenges of food insecurity,
land degradation, and access to fresh water. It has since emerged
as a leading example of community-based adaptation to climate
change. The initiative began with a community assessment of
existing constraints to local health and wellbeing, with special
consideration for challenges arising due to climate change and
environmental decline. Despite the presence of a local aquifer, one
of the top priorities identified was fresh water access.
Through this grassroots enterprise, the community has initiated a
range of actions to address land degradation and lack of water access,
both of which have plagued local residents and threatened local
livelihoods and wellbeing. Some of the most effective interventions
have included a comprehensive tree-planting campaign; the
construction of dams, wells and water catchments ponds, which
allow the community to exercise more control and secure greater
certainty over the availability of fresh water; and the establishment
of temporary closed areas on communal land, where grazing is
prohibited to allow for the natural regeneration of indigenous
vegetation.
Landscape level change
The result has been nothing short of landscape level change; that
is, the wholesale transformation of lands surrounding the village
and rejuvenation of the catchment area. Vegetation cover has
quickly returned, soil erosion has been greatly reduced, rain water
infiltration into the subsoil has increased (which, by extension,
improved agricultural productivity), and springs and streams have
been fortified. The community is using hand-dug, shallow water
wells to start small-scale irrigation schemes. Livestock management
and domestic animal production has improved, with animal dung
used for compost and improving soil fertility. With environmental
recovery and the rejuvenation of local ecosystems has come
improved livelihoods, diversified incomes and strengthened food
security. To date, more than 1,000 farmers have been engaged in
these new agronomic practices and diversified income generation
activities, with thousands more benefiting from ecosystem
restoration and improvements to local infrastructure.
The village has become widely known for its pioneering work on
‘community-based participatory planning’, which prioritizes the
active involvement of the local population in each step of project
design, development and implementation. Responsiveness to
local needs, and the ability to draw from local resources, are stated
strengths of the Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management
Initiative and key factors underpinning its success to date. A
community-based management system ensures the buy-in of
the local community, while specific mechanisms have also been
put in place to ensure the inclusion of women in all aspects of
community planning, project implementation and monitoring. Bylaws
governing the fair distribution of potable water are enforced
by a village committee, which also serves as a dispute resolution
mechanism and actively monitors water use.
13

Key Activities and Innovations
The community of Abrha Weatsbha carries out a number of
overlapping and complementary activities in the areas of communitybased
adaptation, food security, eco-agriculture, sustainable forest
management, sustainable land management, and water resource
management.
Improved water management
Northern Ethiopia typically experiences unreliable rainfall. These
patterns have only intensified with climate change, resulting in
prolonged droughts, late rains, shorter rainy seasons, and extended
dry spells during the growing season. This poses acute challenges
for a population that is dependent on agriculture for subsistence,
food security and livelihoods. Abrha Weatsbha has responded with
interventions to improve the water-holding capacity of the soil by
recharging groundwater and digging shallow wells to provide for
supplementary irrigation.
Changing local agricultural practices
Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management Initiative also
engages local farmers to improve environmental sustainability, crop
yields and agricultural productivity. This has been an exercise in
behaviour change, as some traditional agricultural practices – many
in use due to the need for quick, low-cost returns – have produced
negative impacts on the local environment. The group promotes
Improvements to the integrity and content of soil have led to
subsequent improvements in water-holding capacity. Tree planting,
ecosystem restoration activities, and the use of manure for compost
and organic fertilizers have not only improved the integrity of the soil
and land, but improved water security by facilitating groundwater
recharge, or what community members refer to as “the water bank in
the soil”. This reserve of water has increased community resilience to
droughts. Improvements in soil quality have translated to increased
absorption of water into the soil, which has also reduced incidence
of flooding.
The community also constructs small dams, creates water catchment
ponds, and builds trenches and bunds to restore groundwater
functioning. This has resulted in greater flexibility with irrigation,
making year-round agricultural production possible and allowing
local farmers to grow fruits and vegetables that were previously
untenable during the dry season.
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the selection of crop and livestock varieties that are well matched to
the carrying capacity of the land. Grazing restrictions have also been
enforced to allow for the regeneration of indigenous vegetation.
Additionally, the group works with private land owners to encourage
agroforestry practices, which provide the community with wood
and non-timber forest products and also fill important environment
functions like climate control and nitrogen fixing, nutrient cycling, soil
enrichment, and water percolation. At the same time, shallow wells
have been dug to allow for both standard and drip irrigation, which
make it possible to grow fruit and vegetables during the dry season.
Tree planting and agroforestry
The Abrha Weatsbha community is working to reverse the legacy of
deforestation in the region. Tree-planting efforts on communal lands
have been undertaken with the long-term goal of re-establishing
standing forests and improving soil quality and integrity. On a
shorter term basis, the community has focused on temporary
closures of communal areas where the land needs time to recover
and rehabilitate, soil and water conservation interventions, and
community woodlots. The communal lands are dominated primarily
by pioneer indigenous species, which have low production function,
but high environmental rehabilitation and stabilization functions.
Thus, the group has also promoted the use of farm fields and
backyards for agroforestry and the planting of fruit-bearing trees,
which have positive environmental and economic benefits for
participating farmers.
Education, local problem-solving and innovation
In addition to its land restoration and conservation activities, Abrha
Weatsbha has dedicated energy and resources to community
education and training for the local population. The local authority
in the village works to promote a multi-dimensional extension
programme that is responsive to the production needs of residents
in particular regions, and has made significant strides in reaching
populations of economically marginalized women to offer support
and skills-training in livestock production, forestry, soil conservation,
agriculture and horticulture.
This commitment to education and training has had positive
spillover effects for the community by providing a sense of shared
determination, collective problem-solving and local self-reliance.
As a result, a local culture and ethos of innovation has blossomed.
By encouraging learning by doing, building trust between local
authorities and farmers, facilitating calculated risk-taking, and
investing in interventions that respond to locally identified needs,
Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management Initiative has built a
foundation of social capital that can be drawn from in tackling other
challenges to the village and equitably managing complex social
issues such as land allocation, resource sharing in grazing lands and
protected forests, expansion of irrigation channels to remote subdistricts,
and dealing with internal conflicts and benefit-sharing.
15

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Abrha Weatsbha’s Natural Resource Management Initiative has had a
number of positive biodiversity impacts in the land surrounding the
village and in the region more broadly. Environmental rehabilitation
efforts – the construction of dams, trenches and bunds, and chains of
ponds for “water banking” – have had the desired effect of recharging
the ground water and improving the integrity and composition of the
soil, two challenges which had long been plaguing the community
and crippling the health of local ecosystems.
Recharging groundwater
Rehabilitation efforts, along with a wide-ranging tree planting
campaign, have resulted in more than 50 per cent of rainwater being
trapped to recharge groundwater stores. Wells have been dug for
irrigation of high-value crops, which are now able to be harvested
two to three times per year, irrespective of rainfall patterns. The
creation of enclosure areas and water conservation measures have
resulted in water tables rising from nine meters depth to between
two and four meters, making the digging of wells a reasonably lowlabour
and low-cost proposition. Natural springs that had dried
up have started to flow again, streams now flow longer distances,
and pastured lowlands remain green throughout the year. The
environmental benefits of soil conservation, water infiltration
and groundwater recharge have translated to socioeconomic
benefits that include higher crop yields, improvements in biomass
production, and reduced incidence of flooding.
example, where farmers used to purposefully remove Faidherbia
albida trees – a thorny species of tree with deep-penetrating tap
roots that make it highly resistant to drought – it has become
common practice to sow their seeds and germinate them in their
fields. Another example of positive behavior change among local
farmers has been the voluntary introduction of seasonal land
closures, where human and livestock incursions are restricted to
allow land in certain areas to recover.
A sustainable land management approach
One of the main areas of focus for the initiative has been tree planting,
efforts which have targeted hillside areas and degraded lands in and
around the village. These investments in tree planting have paid
large environment dividends. Reforestation has translated to the
conservation of topsoil, greater cycling of organic material to the
soil, watershed protection and reduced erosion of hillsides, which
A “quiet revolution”
Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management Initiative has
successfully ushered in a local paradigm shift – what the group
has dubbed a “quiet revolution” – in how local farmers understand,
appreciate and manage the environment. One aspect of this
appreciation has been around indigenous species of plants. For
16

was leaving large tracks of potentially productive land barren. Tree
root systems have served to strengthen soil integrity and cohesion,
reducing the erosion of slopes.
The sustainable land management approach promoted by the
group has served as a mechanism for doing away with local
agricultural practices that were either not sustainable over the long
term or, worse, were eroding the integrity of local ecosystems and
damaging the environment. A focus on the interconnectedness of
groundwater recharge, soil quality, and tree cover has provided a
lens and rallying point through which the community has been able
to address environmental challenges at the systemic level. The end
result has been greater environmental sustainability and improved
land productivity.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The initiative has had a profound impact on the livelihoods of Abrha
Weatsbha community members, improving food security to such
an extent that an area once plagued by low crop yields and food
shortages in the dry season now produces a food surplus. Similar
improvements have come about in the availability of potable water,
once a serious concern which threatened local health and wellbeing
as well as the irrigation options for off-season agriculture. The
availability of water has combined with improvements in soil quality
to boost agricultural outputs and the diversity of crops that can be
grown throughout the year. Farmers have also been supported to
better select and maintain livestock in their respective landscapes,
which has not only improved the productivity of livestock, but
reduced overgrazing and resulting land degradation.
Access to water, irrigation and food security
By focusing on recharging the groundwater and local aquifer,
Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management Initiative has made
possible the use of shallow wells. Prior to the group’s interventions,
the water table was too low for communities to access it. Now, with a
minimal amount of technological input, the village has been able to
dig more than 180 wells using treadle pumps to access potable water.
Treadle pumps are now also used by the local population to access
water from ponds, springs and the nearby river, all strengthening
local water security.
Access to water has made irrigation during the dry season and
supplementary irrigation during the rainy season possible, creating
reliable year-round agricultural production. In the dryland region
of northern Ethiopia, where rain-fed crop production is possible
only once a year, this newfound ability to produce crops, fruits and
vegetables year-round has fundamentally changed the area and the
lives of the local population. For the average shallow wells user, food
self-sufficiency is now possible for over nine months of the year,
while for 27 per cent of users food self-sufficiency is possible yearround.
The new possibilities which have opened up through water
17

security and irrigation have also had implications for local health
and nutrition. A total of 39 per cent of shallow well users are now
consuming a wider variety of vegetables at least once a week.
Agricultural outputs, diversified crops and local income
Between 2004 and 2007, the amount of irrigated land under
cultivation for vegetable production increased from 32 to 68
hectares. This has had predictably positive effects on local incomes.
Between 2007 and 2010, when land under irrigation expanded
further, incomes from the sale of vegetables and spices nearly
tripled from USD 32,500 to USD 93,750. Farmers have also been
supported to grow high-value fruit trees for apple, avocado, citron,
mango, and coffee, several of which were not part of the agricultural
landscape prior to when the initiative began. Cultivation of fruit
trees has enhanced both incomes and nutrition. The group has also
promoted apiculture as an income diversification strategy for local
farmers. Training in modern beehive management and the use of
apiculture equipment led to a local increase in honey production
between 2007 and 2010 from 13 to 31 tons, as well as an increase in
hive productivity from 10 to 35 kilograms.
Incomes have also increased from the sale of surplus produce.
Notably, the group has coordinated the pooling of funds to link
the community into an electricity grid which is 15 kilometres away.
Access to energy has been a persistent problem for the village, but
now more than 60 per cent of households have access to this grid.
This “common fund” approach has also been used to construct,
equip and light a community centre, which has become an engine
of local collective action and information exchange.
Resilience
One of the most significant impacts of the project has been
improvements in the overall resilience of the community to withstand
environmental and economic shocks and, importantly, to adapt to
climate change in a region known for extreme climate variability. The
sustainable land management approach employed by the initiative
has improved soil quality and integrity, which has in turn reduced
the susceptibility of the community to floods and further land
degradation. Efforts to improve food security and diversify the base
of agricultural products have created less dependence on a single or
small number of crops, thereby strengthening income certainty for
local farmers who regularly confront extended droughts.
Empowerment of women
The development of potable water sources within the village, and
the establishment of enclosed woodlots in the village vicinity, have
had important implications for women and girls. Where previously
women would have travelled great distances to collect water, fodder
and firewood, they now are able to access these basic needs in a
much shorter amount of time. This has had the effect of freeing up
time for women and girls to engage in other productive activities,
including school and education. Women have also been given
an active role in the governance of the initiative, taking a lead on
decision-making and implementation of the programme.
POLICY IMPACTS
The organization has had an important role in shaping regional
policy development and has garnered the attention of regional
and national policymakers. Lessons learned from the initiative have
been channelled into a regional steering committee established
by the Tigray regional government, the Bureau of Water Resources
Development, and the Relief Society of Tigray. Based on an
innovation that came out of the Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource
Management Initiative, the committee decided to adopt the use of
ponds as irrigation sources, and to make the technical and resource
investments needed to implement the approach across the region.
This became the first step in a process that saw many local farmers in
the region adopting shallow wells and other locally adapted waterharvesting
strategies.
Data collected from the extension office in Abrha Weatsbha
indicated that shallow wells have been the technology most widely
used by farmers, accounting for 57.5 per cent of the total land under
irrigation. According to the respondents of a survey taken at the
regional level, the success of this approach in Abrha Weatsbha has
also positively influenced regional strategies for household-level
irrigation. While the main strategy promotes ponds, different waterharvesting
alternatives from Abrha Weatsbha such as shallow wells,
underground tanks and pump irrigation have been accepted as
important components of the regional strategy.
Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management Initiative also
serves as a training centre for farmers across the region and a
model for community-based natural resource management where
local practitioners can experience their techniques first-hand.
Researchers from national universities and institutes often visit the
group to study their sustainable land management approach and
better understand what has made their initiative a success.
18

Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
Although the Abrha Weatsbha Natural Resource Management
Initiative has received support from the government, its ongoing
work has largely been the by-product of community energy,
resources and labour. As such, while the organization is not reliant on
outside inputs to continue operating, its sustainability model is tied
closely to its ability to foster community ownership and investment.
The initiative has become deeply embedded into local life, culture
and identity. All interventions have been implemented using locally
available resources. The group is governed by a locally-elected
administrative body and all produce is targeted to local markets.
Self-sustainability and self-reliance are defining characteristics of
the organization, as well as important aspects of local identity. The
combination of both short and long-term benefits provides ongoing
incentives to the local people, who can see visible results for the
efforts they invest.
REPLICATION
Through a partnership with nearby Mekelle University, the recently
established Abrha Weatsbha Knowledge Management Centre
has been set up to facilitate the sharing of lessons learned both
within the village and between Abrha Weatsbha and other villages,
allowing the successes achieved in Abrha Weatsbha to be shared
with and replicated by other communities in the region that face
similar challenges from climate variability and land degradation. The
knowledge management centre serves as a powerful instrument for
facilitating the replication of Abrha Weatsbha’s successes throughout
the region and beyond. There is also a demonstration site in the
village for testing new methods of natural resource management.
Several senior regional and federal government officials, including
the Ethiopian Prime Minister, have visited Abrha Weatsbha and
expressed their appreciation for the development activities taking
place there. The government’s recognition of the village as a model
for community adaptation and development has influenced many
others to visit and participate in knowledge-sharing with the
community.
PARTNERS
The initiative has benefitted from a diverse array of partnerships,
including with Mekelle University, various government offices
in the village (specifically the food security programme), credit
institutions, and cooperatives. Mekelle University partnered with the
initiative to establish the Abrha Weatsbha Knowledge Management
Centre, which also provides skills-training and workshops on
communications technology. Additionally, the Tigray Bureau of
Agriculture and the Relief Society of Tigray provided technical and
resource inputs to the initiative, while the Ministry of Agriculture’s
extension system has provided ongoing guidance and support.
19

AMSING ASSOCIATION
Morocco
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Arabic
Amsing Association was eatsbalished by the villagers of Elmoudaa – an Amazirght
(Berber) community located in the High Atlas Mountains – to address economic
isolation, a lack of social services, and harsh climatic conditions. The association has
successfullyreintroduced a traditional land management practice called ‘azzayn’ which
bans herders from grazing their livestock on protected lands. The reintroduction of
this regulatory system has allowed native grasses and shrubs to thrive, reduced soil
erosion, and helped prevent flooding.
The association has also led a number of infrastructure projects to promote communitybased
adaptation to climate change. A ‘water chateau’ stores fresh water for use in
times of drought or when floods wash away irrigation ditches, while a water tower
provides local residents with access to clean drinking water. In addition to upgrading
the community irrigation system, the association has expanded greenhouse farming to
explore new crops and improve food security.

Background and Context
Douar Elmoudaa is a traditional Amazirght (Berber) village and
community, located on the southern slopes of the High Atlas
Mountains in Toubkal National Park, Morocco. One of 45 douars, or
villages, of the Rural Commune of Toubkal, Elmoudaa is located in
the Tifnout valley, roughly 20 km south-east of Mount Toubkal, the
highest mountain in North Africa. The village is located in one of the
most remote areas of Morocco, within the province of Taroudant, in
the Souss-Massa-Drâa region. At an altitude of 2,000 m and accessed
via 30 km of unpaved road, the village is extremely isolated.
Elmoudaa is the home of a Berber community, indigenous to the
region, and the village’s history can be traced back over 2,000 years.
The community currently consists of 350 people distributed in 28
households. Adult men and women make up 35 per cent of the
population (15 and 20 per cent respectively) with children younger
than 13 years of age comprising the majority of the remainder.
The community members traditionally rely on natural resources
for their livelihoods, with forestry, cattle-breeding and small-scale
or subsistence farming dominating. Wheat, barley, corn, potatoes,
onions, and seasonal fruit are grown and are either consumed
directly or sold for income.
Men are primarily responsible for physical labor including plowing
and sowing fields, irrigation, and transporting and processing crops.
Many men also earn income through construction and occasional
work in larger cities. Women and children are responsible for the
majority of field work, including harvesting, maintenance and
caring for livestock. They are also the primary caretakers of natural
resources, since tasks like fetching water and collecting wood
typically fall to them.
Impacts of a changing climate
The baseline climate of Elmoudaa is very specific to the Toubkal
region, with a combination of Mediterranean and steppe climates.
There are wide seasonal fluctuations in the weather, with the local
climate historically characterized by a hot, dry summer lasting
from April until October, and an extremely cold, humid winter
lasting from November until March. However, in the recent past,
the community has observed changes in weather patterns, with
higher temperatures, less snowfall during winter months, and more
unpredictable and violent storms. Extended drought periods are
considered cyclical by most locals, coming at five-year intervals and
lasting for two years. The general assumption is that two years of
drought will be followed by three years of moderate precipitation.
There has, however, been a noticeable disruption to this cycle, with
drought periods extending beyond their two year averages while
producing less rain and more heat than expected. Extreme weather
events are increasingly unpredictable and more intense, and their
impacts are only exacerbated by damage from intense drought
years.
Reduced precipitation in winter has contributed to a decrease in
local water resources (snow historically provided water reserves
for the spring), while storms and sudden melting of snow (due to
increased temperature variability) has led to sudden, devastating
water flows and flooding.
Flooding is the most immediate and visible impact of this climate
variability, resulting in erosion and damage to local infrastructure
and agriculture. Traditionally, seasonal and consistent rains provided
sufficient vegetation and soil compaction to support baselines
structures such as irrigation, access roads and fields. Lengthening
periods of drought followed by short yet violent storms reduce the
vegetation and soil quality, further increasing the soil’s vulnerability
to erosion. It is not uncommon for a two-hour storm to completely
destroy infrastructure supporting agriculture and livelihoods, as
irrigation channels are washed away by flash flooding, water basins
are filled with stones carried by the flood, and fields, crops and roads
are destroyed. The short periods of violent storms often result in weeks
of structural repair work, further degrading the quality and quantity
of crops as community members are forced to reallocate time,
22

money and labor to repairs. Community members are also driven
to strain local forest resources through the clearing of vegetation
and destruction of the natural landscape for the construction of new
roads, fields or irrigation canals, further degrading the land.
Dependence on agriculture
The agricultural practices and techniques employed by the
community today are largely unchanged from those of their
ancestors. Fields are terraced and water is sourced via an openair
irrigation ditch that spans three kilometres across a steep
mountainside. The source of water is a river shared by three
communities on a rotational schedule. Historically, water rights have
been a major source of conflict between neighboring villages, even
leading to occasional physical confrontations between families.
Currently, each community is allowed a certain, limited period each
day to use the river. Clearly, even in the absence of the threats posed
by climate change, water is a very limited resource in the region.
As a farming community, dependent on agriculture, Douar Elmoudaa
is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of unpredictable rainfall
patterns and variations in temperature. Unusually hot or cold seasons
drastically impact crop yields, which in turn affect both the food and
economic security of community members. Community members
have observed an increasingly poor quantity and quality of harvest,
primarily stemming from increasing erosion and land degradation
issues, which are exacerbated by an inefficient and wash-out prone
irrigation line, increased weather variability, insufficient knowledge
of new adaptive agricultural technologies, and poor natural resource
and water conservation techniques.
Poor harvests are beginning to dramatically alter the social and
structural fabric of Elmoudaa, as families are forced to seek alternative
means of income generation. The result is an exodus of young men to
the larger cities in search of work. Adult men are already in the minority
in Elmoudaa, and their social and work responsibilities are either left
unoccupied or passed on to women or children. The consequences
of this additional burden on women and children are threatening the
quality of life of many community members. Girls and young women
are frequently forced to leave school early in order to attend to family
needs, further entrenching themselves in a cycle of dependence and
poverty. Although it provides a valuable source of income, the exodus
of young men from the village weakens the human resource base of
the village and leaves the community ill-equipped to deal with the
increasing incidences of infrastructural damage.
The challenges faced by the village are exacerbated by its isolation
which limits the community’s access to education and healthcare,
further increasing its vulnerability to the effects of climate change.
Amsing Association
Amsing Association was originally formed in 2001 by members of
Douar Elmoudaa in order to contribute to the development of the
village and, in particular, to protect the natural resources critical to
local livelihoods in a context of infrastructural isolation and harsh
climate. It was re-established in 2010 with the mission to ‘fairly and
openly govern the community of Douar Elmoudaa while promoting
activities and projects that improve the lives of community
members and support environmental health’. This association
represents the interests of all members of the Elmoudaa community,
with all the village families represented in the association, usually
by an adult male representative. The association is governed by
a democratically-elected president, vice-president, secretary,
treasurer, and two assistants. Although the Sheikh is the local leader,
Amsing Association makes its decisions as a group, with members
sitting together and discussing the potential of each proposed
project.
Later, community members formed a separate water management
committee in order to benefit from subsidies available through the
Moroccan Agriculture Strategy known as the ‘Moroccan Green Plan’.
The new water association is responsible for overseeing all water
use and management issues in the community as well as serving
as the primary leadership behind all new technologies, projects,
and training related to irrigation, domestic water use and all water
rights. On this committee, the community elected to give women
and youth unprecedented leadership positions (a significant step
in this traditional community where men traditionally dominate in
the governance of the affairs of the village). Both segments of the
population take active roles in project design and implementation,
as well as project management. Youths have taken the majority
of leadership responsibilities in the new association, with no
administrator over the age of 40.
In 2011, the water management committee merged with the older
association to form the current Amsing Association, which oversees
the community-based adaptation (CBA) programme currently being
implemented in the village. The presence of a youthful leadership
ensures the sustainability of new practices and knowledge while
ensuring the inclusion of local youth in the initiative.
“Community leaders should be confident in promoting the tools and propositions that
work best for their communities. They might be recognized later by decision makers
as the best solutions.”
Mr Said Zirri, President, Amsing Association
23

Key Activities and Innovations
Amsing Association has primarily focused its attention on addressing
water management and land degradation issues, initiating projects
to ensure a secure supply of water and to reverse the negative
effects of erosion on the soil. Recent efforts have continued to focus
on these themes while also emphasizing the wider challenge of
adaptation to climate change.
Land management
Land management activities have included the conservation and
revegetation of degraded and eroded lands surrounding the village.
The contribution of over-grazing to this problem was addressed
by the enactment of a local regulation called an ‘azzayn’. This
consists of a community-enforced fine, levied on herders who graze
their animals in protected areas of land. This has allowed passive
revegetation to occur, facilitating the rejuvenation of native grasses
and shrubs and thus reducing erosion and flooding in many parts
of the village. In this respect, the community is a pioneer in natural
resource management among regional communities, being the only
village out of 45 in the municipality of Toubkal to have implemented
local regulations for the conservation of vegetation. In doing so,
Amsing Association has demonstrated a degree of innovation in its
approach to land management.
The Association has planted 4,500 feet of cypress trees in the hills
above the village, as well as 800 apple trees and 1,000 walnut trees
to generate and diversify income. The Association has also organized
the construction of rock dams and gabions to correct a ravine that
threatens the community and prevent further erosion, with further
works of this type also scheduled for implementation.
Water management
Water management activities have been institutionalized through
the creation of the community’s water management committee.
Formed with the help of subsidies from the Moroccan Department
of Agriculture, this committee is responsible for oversight of all water
use and management issues in the community. Young leaders were
selected to ensure the sustainability of the initiative, and the new
association has merged with Amsing to manage this project.
Water storage: In order to better manage water supply and ensure
reliable irrigation for crops, the Association constructed a reservoir
and water tower in 2001 with the assistance of a U.S. Peace Corps
volunteer. This allows water to be stored for times when the irrigation
ditch is washed away by floods and for times of drought. In this
endeavor, the community worked with outside organizations to build
a water tower fed from a natural water source about 3,050 meters
above the village. The water tower was one of the first initiatives
undertaken by the Association. The tower holds days’ worth of water
that is used to irrigate the community’s fields. This helps ensure that
the community can protect its crops in cases where a section of the
irrigation canal is washed away and may take several days to repair.
The tower also provides drinking water to every household in the
village, and its construction marked the first time that households in
the village had secure access to clean drinking water.
Piped and drip irrigation systems: In 2007, the Association extended
a 550 m section of irrigation channel to 3 km. This work also involved
burying the new irrigation channels in plastic pipes to reduce the
water lost in transit and to reduce the vulnerability of irrigation
infrastructure to flash flooding. The realization of underground
irrigation channels protects access to water as the traditional openair
pipes were regularly destroyed by floods, and were subject to
heavy losses from clogging and evaporation during hot weather. The
Association is currently planning a second tranche of the irrigation
system of pipes by groundwater, which will further prevent water
losses between the source and agricultural parcels (improving to
95% preservation of flow instead of 25% currently). Water-delivery
systems are also being strengthened through permanent enclosed
irrigation. With the support of the Department of Agriculture, the
Commune of Toubkal, and UNDP, 1,500 meters of piping will replace
24

the existing canal water delivery system in order to ensure efficient,
permanent, and wash-out proof irrigation to the community. The
piping will be combined with several concrete pressure pools that
ease access to repairs and routine maintenance, as well as fix the
piping into the hillside. The new irrigation will follow the same
course as the current water canal.
In partnership with the Souss-Massa-Drâa regional office of
agricultural development (Office Régional de la Mise en Valeur
Agricole – ORMVA), ten hectares of drip irrigation is being installed
in terraced fields, and farmers are being trained in the technology.
The drip irrigation system will be attached to the current water
delivery systems and provide an efficient water supply to fruit trees,
vegetables, and other income-generating crops. This new system
will guarantee farmers a consistent water supply for economically
important crops during drought years and decreased rainfall while
conserving enough water for staple crops. Farmers will no longer
have to choose between income generation and staple foods.
Water purification system: With the support of GIZ (the German
Agency for International Cooperation) and U.S. Peace Corps
volunteers, community members are constructing an enclosed wash
station with an adjacent phytoremediation recharge pool in order
to reduce damage to agricultural land from polluted water. Four
covered wash basins will allow local women to perform domestic
chores such as laundry and dish washing without the threat of
introducing dangerous chemicals into the irrigation stream. A water
heating system will help to protect women from exposure to the
cold climate.
All of these techniques contribute to the further improvement of
water resource management while improving the quality of life of
the local population.
Community-based adaptation to climate change
Under the leadership of Amsing Association, a CBA project has
been in development since 2011. Vulnerability assessment sessions
were carried out to identify the challenges the community faced
and to prioritize the appropriate responses. The resulting program
of work aims to protect critical infrastructure through ravine
correction, burying of irrigation channels, and piloting a number of
innovations such as simple community erosion control techniques,
revegetation through tree-planting and bio-engineering. The
community is experimenting with new and more adapted crops in
a greenhouse, while water management work has underpinned the
resilience of their main livelihood. A community-based early storm
and flood warning system is under development through which
the community will expand their ability to prepare for and manage
climate risks. Capacity building workshops held both in and outside
of the village, on a wide range of topics from erosion control to
climate change understanding, including conservation agriculture
and natural resources management, are further supporting the
community to adapt and to be able to live with future climate
changes, by developing forward-thinking capacities.
25

Reforestation: The CBA activities include plans to replant 8.35 ha
of overgrazed and deforested land surrounding the region with
Atlas cypress and high altitude pine. Regrowth will be fostered
through fenced protection of young plants and local grazing and
vegetation-gathering regulations. An additional hectare of land will
be planted around the Rural Commune of Toubkal headquarters, as
a way to advertise and raise awareness of the project among other
communities of the region.
Construction of gabions and dams: To further address erosion
and flood-vulnerability, a series of gabions and rock-dams will be
constructed in drainage valleys. This activity is being undertaken
in partnership with ORMVA and the Souss-Massa-Drâa regional
watershed agency (Agence du Bassin Hydraulique de Souss Massa et
de Draâ), as well as the Taroudant provincial board. Construction
of gabions and rock dams inside drainage valleys will increase the
resilience of the ecosystem to flooding by both slowing the flow
of rainwater and preventing large debris from washing away large
portions of agricultural land. Gabions and rock dams are being
constructed in the two identified ravines running through Douar
Elmoudaa. This adaptation solution is being undertaken with strong
involvement of community members, who will be trained by a
professional contractor. Community members will be hired and
trained by a company for the main portion of the activity, and will be
responsible for implementing the final portion of ravine correction,
through community in-kind contributions.
Combating soil erosion: With potential partnership and support from
ORMVA and the National Institute of Agronomic Research (INRA),
a pilot scheme is being initiated to introduce turf-reinforcement
mats on degraded land. The mats will be tested and then installed
on one hectare of eroded, steep hillside in order to re-establish
vegetation and reduce erosion in highly degraded and vulnerable
land. Following the results of the pilot site, this technology will be
introduced in other areas within the village. The idea is to train as
many people as possible in the use of this tool and try to extend its
use in the neighboring villages of the valley.
The greenhouse will also be used to undertake testing of the
suitability and adaptability of crops that might be introduced in the
village.
Early warning systems: To address the vulnerability of the region
to increasingly unpredictable weather events, two early warning
systems are being implemented, in which Douar Elmoudaa will
participate. With the support of the Department of Meteorology
(DMN), two weather stations (one automatic and one manual) are to
be installed in Toubkal National Park along with a program informing
the regional population of weather alerts through the national
meteorology center. DMN staff will also train local volunteers on
weather observations for local forecasting and extreme weather
preparation. Community members in up to 45 villages in the
Commune of Toubkal will be educated on severe weather affecting
the region through an inclusive awareness-raising program, reaching
out to men, women and youth.
In addition to the DMN project, a pilot community flood warning
installation will be tested. A simple, sensor-based technology will be
placed in a strategic location, by the main source of flooding. The
sensors are connected with a siren that will alert the community
when the water rises to dangerous levels. This equipment will be
accompanied by technical and behavioral training to enhance risk
preparedness. If the system proves successful, it will be promoted by
the DMN and could also be implemented in neighboring villages in
the future.
Greenhouse agriculture: To increase the resilience of agriculture and
diversify the community’s income, greenhouse agriculture is being
developed. Two medium-sized community greenhouses will be built
in a central location on land belonging to the Association. These
greenhouses will house various food crops including potatoes,
onions, tomatoes and legumes as well as some experimental crops.
The greenhouse will employ various technologies including drip
irrigation and passive-solar heating. Consistent local vegetable
production will contribute to enhanced food security for
community members, especially following flooding which destroys
infrastructure and routinely block access to weekly food markets.
Enclosed farming will also decrease the impacts of drought on crops
by providing weather-proof farming plots.
Local women will be the primary caretakers of the greenhouse,
providing ownership and training for one of the most vulnerable
portions of the community. The greenhouse would dually serve as a
training location for new technologies. Through in-site training, local
women will learn and cultivate new skills in adaptive technologies.
26

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
While the work of the Amsing Association has helped to change
local attitudes and behaviours for more sustainable resource
management, Elmoudaa still faces significant challenges to its natural
environment. A 2011 UNDP/Global Environment Facility (GEF) CBA
project proposal identified threats to the local environment and
biodiversity in three categories: baseline climate and environmental
pressures, anthropogenic factors, and additional threats resulting
from climate change.
As previously noted, these trends have recently been exacerbated by
the effects of climate change, as increased intensity and duration of
droughts and extreme weather events will further degrade already
damaged soils and decrease agricultural output. It was observed
that lower agricultural output may well have led to community
members relying more heavily on forest resources, straining both
biodiversity and land quality.
The report noted that the area’s naturally steep slopes and sandy
soil increase the potential for erosion and land degradation when
combined with less rainfall and erratic extreme weather events.
These conditions had been worsened by various agricultural and
pastoralist practices, however. Excessive terracing (to create new
farmland) had contributed to increased erosion along slopes and
strained local natural water resources for irrigation uses. Hillsides
were also commonly used for grazing of livestock, further reducing
biodiversity and exacerbating these pressures. Planting of non-native
crops, and particularly cash crops with high water consumption
properties, had impacted on native vegetation growth and severely
degraded the soil in areas.
The report also describes how previous wood collection and
deforestation efforts had dramatically reduced biodiversity in
both native vegetation and mammals. As a result, all communities
in the vicinity of Toubkal National Park are prohibited to harvest
forest resources under threat of financial penalty. Finally, water use
practices contributed to more widespread impacts on the local
ecosystem. The creation of irrigation canals and re-routing of natural
water systems impacted natural river-dependent vegetation and
strained the land in areas where canals are dug. Domestic use of
water, and particularly use of the irrigation stream for laundry and
cleaning, resulted in an inundation of salts and chemicals into the
water, eventually resulting in salinization and degradation of land.
27

The main environmental impact of the Association’s endeavors
has been the through the setting aside of large sections of land for
conservation, reforestation and revegetation. By outlawing grazing
in certain degraded areas of land through the enforcement of the
azzayn system, the community have protected and sustained native
shrubs and grasses, allowing them to passively regenerate in areas
from which they had disappeared. As a result, Douar Elmoudaa
is now home to varieties of native flora that have completely
disappeared in other areas of the valley. This passive revegetation,
alongside the planting of native tree species on ten hectares of land
surrounding the village, as well as benefitting biological diversity,
has lessened the effects of erosion in the local area and reduced the
risks of flash-flooding.
The construction of the wash station, meanwhile, with a filtration
pool to implement natural decontamination of used wash water, will
help to prevent soaps and detergents from entering the irrigation
canal and local water catchment area. This will alleviate damage to
crops and the local ecosystem from hazardous chemicals.
Integrated land and water management techniques, along with the
introduction of methods to improve agricultural output, has helped
to interrupt the vicious circle of environmental degradation, poor
crop yields, and increased dependence on natural resources. The
community of Elmoudaa has begun to take control of the social and
economic processes affecting its neighbouring ecosystems, and is
turning the tide of habitat and biodiversity loss through collective
action and community-led innovation.
including, potentially, education. The improvements to irrigation
infrastructure, strengthening their durability in the face of flooding,
also free up valuable time, labor and financial resources which often
had to be directed away from productive agriculture and education
in the aftermath of flash flooding, when damage to water canals,
roads and fields required the efforts of community members for a
period to undertake necessary repairs.
The establishment of early weather warning systems offers a chance
to improve the safety of community members and their livestock
in the face of extreme weather events, allowing them to prepare in
advance and secure infrastructure against impending storms and
floods, thus minimizing the human and structural damage caused
by these increasingly common events.
The construction of greenhouses increases the resilience of the
community’s agricultural production to flooding and drought, while
allowing the production of a wider range of vegetables and crops
and experimentation in a wider range of crops to test their suitability
for the village’s local environment. This activity provides a secure,
local source of vegetables to the village, enhancing income and also
nutrition, especially in times when flood damage to roads cuts off
the community’s access to local markets.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
By bolstering the resilience of the Elmoudaa community to
increasing climate variability and future changes in climate, the
actions undertaken by Amsing Association and their partners are
having a profound impact on the current and, crucially, the future
socioeconomic circumstances of the community members. Concrete
steps are being taken to ensure the safety of community members
as well as to secure their livelihoods and increase their ability to cope
with future threats to their way of life.
Resilience to environmental and economic shocks
Much of the Association’s work has focused on increasing the
community’s resilience to flooding and drought, both of which are
occurring increasingly frequently in the region. The construction of
gabions and rock dams is alleviating the impacts of heaving rains on
infrastructure and agricultural land, while improvements to water
infrastructure and irrigation systems have strengthened the ability
of the community and their agricultural activities to withstand
periods of drought and the effects of heavy flooding that frequently
interfered with their traditional irrigation system.
The construction of a water tower, providing clean water to all the
households of the village, is a major contribution to public health.
Alongside the construction of a wash station, this development also
frees up the time of women and children to pursue other activities,
“Our communities are strong when
they are well organized, and informed
about opportunities.”
Ms Fatima Ait Ouchahboune,
Member, Amsing Association
28

POLICY IMPACTS
Amsing Association’s pioneering work is generating precious lessons
and experiences in fields that are critical at the local, national and
global levels and this is reflected in the attention that has been paid
to the initiative by policy-makers at various levels of governance.
Regional level
Capacity building and women’s empowerment
Many of Amsing Association’s activities involve a high degree of
local training and capacity-building, and involvement of community
members in their implementation. These projects provide a
valuable local source of training and employment. Construction of
erosion control measures involved the training and employment of
community members by professional contractors, for instance. The
greenhouse project also involves training and skills development of
community members, particularly women.
The participation of women has been enhanced by the Association’s
endeavors, especially under the CBA program of activities. Under
traditional, cultural norms and practices, women and men rarely
work together and men routinely take on leadership and decisionmaking
roles. Women rarely leave the village or attend meetings
with men. To facilitate this tradition in the design of the CBA project,
while ensuring the involvement of women in the planning process,
separate meetings were held for the men and the women to ensure
that both groups had a chance to contribute to the process.
In the design of the village’s CBA activities, the creation of specific
project components for women ensures their investment and
participation, while complying with local customs. The greenhouse
agriculture project and the construction of a wash station are
specifically focused towards women, giving women the opportunity
to take leadership in particular project segments that affect them,
and contribute their ideas and experiences, without challenging
local social norms.
As women hold the primary responsibility for harvesting and
maintaining fields, the steps taken by the Association to protect
agricultural production directly benefit women. Women are also
key participants in the community-based early warning system that
will be piloted in the community. The CBA project includes specific
gender participation and empowerment indicators, gender being
one of the main focuses of the adaptation initiative.
Given the success of the project activities implemented in Douar
Elmoudaa, the President of the Commune of Toubkal integrated
similar activities into the area’s recent Communal Development Plan.
This development strategy is to be implemented in all 45 villages,
allowing the entire region to benefit from the experiences gained by
Douar Elmoudaa in the implementation of its adaptation and riskmanagement
activities.
Many of the projects undertaken and planned in Douar Elmoudaa,
particularly under the CBA program, are intended to act as pilot
projects for the entire region. As such, emphasis is placed on
communication of lessons learned, replication, and informing
wider policy and practice. Through the extension of successful pilot
projects, practices that have been found to be successful in Douar
Elmoudaa in the fields of water management, reforestation and land
management are now informing practices at the Toubkal National
Park level.
National and international level
The Moroccan Department of the Environment, through the
National Environmental Observatory (Observatoire National de
l’Environnement du Maroc - ONEM) and its regional observatories,
is also aware of activities being undertaken by Amsing Association,
and the continued integration of climate change into their activities
at national level is being informed by the success of the approach
taken in Douar Elmoudaa.
Concrete partnerships between the local community and nationallevel
government institutions (including those responsible for
Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Meteorology) have played
a key role in allowing Elmoudaa’s experiences to influence policy,
giving these institutions the chance to capitalize on lessons learned
for mainstreaming in national climate change adaptation strategies
and policies. Support from international programs, such as UNDP-
GEF’s pilot CBA program, aim for global lesson-sharing and policy
influence, contributing to making CBA a priority for development,
and building on experiences such as those of Amsing Association.
29

Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
The efforts of Amsing Association to build the resilience of the Douar
Elmoudaa community have benefitted from a long tradition of
communal action. Their work has benefitted from the community’s
characteristic ‘tiwiza’ ethos, which implies solidarity and support
for the community’s common interests. The Association’s work
capitalizes on this strength, and projects completed over the decade
since Amsing Association’s foundation have proven to be successful
and well-sustained. A great deal of time and effort was spent on
planning the Association’s latest program of CBA activities which,
alongside strong buy-in from all sectors of the community, should
ensure the long-term sustainability of the endeavors.
Since the activities being implemented in Elmoudaa serve the
interests of all members of the community, protecting their personal
safety and securing their livelihoods, there is a great incentive for
community members to strive to sustain these efforts. Through
capacity-building and awareness-raising, the community is an active
leader in the shaping of its own future prosperity and well-being.
All segments of the population maintain an active interest in the
projects being implemented, and, importantly, youth have been
encouraged to take on a great deal of responsibility and leadership
in the design and implementation of projects. The leadership of the
Association is bolstered by the participation of young members of
the community who have returned after several years of education
and work in the cities to actively contribute to the development of
their community. This is an encouraging indicator of the potential of
the Association’s work to be carried on by successive generations.
The strong focus on training and capacity-building is a critical
component of the sustainability of the initiative. Capacitybuilding
workshops held both inside and outside of the village,
on a wide range of topics from erosion control to climate change
understanding, including conservation agriculture and natural
resources management, are further supporting the community
to adapt and to be able to live with future climate changes, by
developing forward-thinking capacities. Since the initiative and its
activities are now enshrined in local and regional policies, continued
support for the activities and their continued implementation and
maintenance are likely.
REPLICATION
The influence the Amsing Association’s work has had on local policies
offers assurance of the activities’ likely replication in other villages in
the region.
Many of the projects undertaken and planned in Douar Elmoudaa,
particularly under their CBA program, are intended to act as a pilot
projects for the entire region. In fact, the Ministry of Environment
expressed the importance of the success of the Elmoudaa project in its
plans to develop an adaptation project that might mobilize funding
from the Adaptation Fund, an international financing mechanism for
climate change adaptation. This potential project would replicate the
successful demonstrated activities of the Elmoudaa CBA project at a
larger scale. As such, specific emphasis is placed on communication
of lessons learned, replication, and informing wider policy and
practice. Community and Association members will be expected
to serve as advisers and mentors for future projects in the region,
facilitating inter-community knowledge sharing and inspiration.
In this respect, the strong relationships between Amsing Association’s
leaders and the leaders of other associations in the region enables
association leaders to learn from each other’s experiences as well
as to collectively influence government policy and attract resources
to this remote area. Good relationships between village leaders
facilitate the dissemination of lessons learned from Douar Elmoudaa
to its neighboring communities. The Association has garnered much
respect from other villages in the region, and the Association is now
supporting, advising and guiding its neighbors on ways to develop
30

sustainable projects and secure outsider assistance. Specifically, the
experience of collective forest management has been promoted
and replicated in the Tifnout valley.
Knowledge sharing and capacity building are cornerstones of the
Amsing initiative, particularly in respect of the CBA component. At
the community level, knowledge is passed along in peer-to-peer
settings, in expert-led training sessions, through experimentation
and by studying best practices from other projects. Monitoring and
capitalization of lessons learned from the initiative is generating
profound knowledge that will be shared with partners through
workshops, site visits, and through the design and dissemination of
a participatory knowledge product, in order to reach out from local
to global levels and to share with and inspire other communities.
Through sub-national partnerships, such as with Toubkal National
Park, communities stretching to the far sides of the High Atlas
Mountains will have the opportunity to gain from the knowledge
passed on from this project. For the Ministry of Environment, as
well as for international partners and aid organizations, Elmoudaa
provides a remarkable example to replicate. These partners also
contribute to the knowledge-sharing process by promoting the
initiative at national and global levels. Nationally, the Association
participates in the UNDP-GEF network of CBA program associations.
As such, it has had several opportunities to present its work to other
Moroccan associations, sharing lessons and best practices, especially
during a national workshop organized by the CBA program (UNDP-
GEF) in November 2011.
Active mobilization of a diverse range of partners strengthens the
project’s potential for scaling up from local to national levels. The
CBA component of Amsing’s work will be a pilot nucleus for a wider
approach that will encompass the entire Tifnout Valley, through the
support and involvement of the Rural Commune of Toubkal and of
the Toubkal National Park Water and Forest Regional Directorate.
The initiative has mobilized Amsing’s partners, whose involvement
will benefit the 45 communities of the Commune of Toubkal.
For example, awareness workshops and training on community
management of rural roads are due to be held in an approach to
protect against weather damage. These workshops, organized by
the rural municipality, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service
(USFS), will affect communities throughout the Tifnout Valley and the
Commune of Toubkal, building on Amsing’s work and partnerships.
“Communities need the assistance of
policymakers, but before that we need
your recognition.”
Ms Fatima Ait Ouchahboune,
Member, Amsing Association
PARTNERS
Over the years, Amsing Association has benefitted from the
diverse range of strong partnerships that it has created and
sustained with over fourteen local, national and international
government departments, NGOs and development organizations.
The contributions of these partners to the Association’s work are
outlined below.
UNDP-GEF CBA Morocco Team: The primary funding source for the
CBA component of Amsing Association’s work; Amsing Association
implements one of the pilot initiatives of UNDP-GEF’s CBA program
in Morocco. The Morocco Team team will facilitate workshops, remain
in permanent contact with all project partners, and participate in the
implementation, monitoring and reporting of the project.
UNDP-GEF Small Grants Programme: Provided a grant of USD
$34,209 to Amsing Association in 2011 for the execution of its
program of CBA activities.
U.S. Peace Corps: Has provided the community of Elmoudaa with
three volunteers who have lived and worked in the community for
at least two years each. In the past, Peace Corps has partnered with
the community to build a water basin, water tower, plant fruit trees,
install irrigation and assist in capacity-building of local associations.
For the CBA project, Peace Corps will act as project facilitators,
advisers, liaisons to regional and national partners, and assist in
capacity building and training. The current volunteer will also assist
in new technology research, specifically on turf reinforcement mats,
and will assist in any administrative or organizational work required
by the local association.
German Agency for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft
für Internationale Zusammenarbeit - GIZ): Is mainly providing support
for construction of the washing station equipped with collective
phytoremediation to prepare wash water for reuse in agriculture and
toilets.
United States Forest Service: Is providing technical support to the
CBA program, and holding awareness workshops and training on
community management of rural roads.
Morocco’s High Commissariat for Water and Forests: Is the principal
government agency responsible for managing the lands on which
many of Amsing Association’s activities take place; their regional
extension services partner with Amsing on CBA, reforestation, and
water tower construction. The High Commissariat’s contribution to the
initiative is in-kind but has been instrumental for the forest and native
vegetation generation component. The High Commissariat’s inputs
include hands-on training in tree-planting, including digging, planting
and maintenance of trees; and provision of forest plant seedlings. The
High Commissariat for Water and Forests provided 4,500 Atlas Cypress
seedlings at the beginning of the project and 2,000 additional seedlings
in 2012. A further 4,000 seedlings will be provided in 2013.
31

Department of Agriculture (extension services): Is a relatively new
partnership for Amsing Association and supports projects regarding
agricultural methods and new technologies that improve output
and sustainability of farm systems. The Department of Agriculture
will assist in the construction of erosion control measures, provide
materials for the installation of piped irrigation, and will support the
implementation of and technical training on drip-irrigation.
Office of Agricultural Development (Office Régional de la Mise en
Valeur Agricole - ORMVA): Is providing technical assistance and
capacity-building for the establishment of a drip-irrigation system
and the construction of erosion control measures.
The Ministry of Environment: Provides support to the activities of the
Association, with a view to building on this pilot project to design a
larger adaptation project in the region.
National Department of Meteorology (DMN): Is supporting the
installation of two weather stations (in Toubkal National Park)
alongside a program to inform community members of weather
alerts through the national meteorology center. DMN staff will also
train local volunteers on weather observation for local forecasting
and extreme weather preparation.
Regional Watershed Management Agency (Agence du Bassin
Hydraulique de Souss Massa et de Draâ): Partnering with Amsing in
the construction of a series of gabions and rock dams to control
erosion
Rural Commune of Toubkal: Is a principal supporter and project
partner. The President of the Commune ensures support of the
association in implementing its activities and liaising with partners.
The Commune will specifically support the irrigation canal
protection, the valley-wide early warning system, and dissemination
and scaling-up of successful activities through incorporation of
lessons learned in the Communal Development Plan.
Province of Taroudant: Is partnering with Amsing in the construction
of a series of gabions and rock dams to control erosion.
National Institute of Agronomic Research (Institut National de
Recherche Agronomique - INRA): Is a projected future partner; the
Association is discussing with INRA the possibility of a partnership
under which INRA would provide technical assistance in improving
the resilience of local agriculture.
32

CHIBEMEME EARTH
HEALING ASSOCIATION
(CHIEHA)
Zimbabwe
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Shona l Ndebele
The Chibememe Earth Healing Association (CHIEHA) is a community-based initiative
centered on the small village of Chibememe, in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. Arising
in response to habitat destruction and deforestation in the Zivambava Island forest
and the Chibememe mainland forest, the organization’s work has been driven by the
17 households that make up Chibememe community. Its work has spread to include
neighbouring communities, however, with the development of environmental outreach
and sustainable livelihoods activities that aim to sustainably manage natural resources in
the wider Sangwe area and the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park Conservation Area.
Key activities have included innovative efforts to raise awareness on conservation
through the initiative’s Environment and Cultural Information Centre, as well as the
processing of non-timber forest products, and promotion of eco- and ethno-tourism to
capitalize on the area’s rich natural and cultural heritage.

Background and Context
Chibememe Earth Healing Association (CHIEHA) is a communitybased
conservation and development organization established
in 1998 in rural South Eastern Chiredzi, Masvingo province in
Zimbabwe. The organization aims to promote the conservation and
sustainable use of biodiversity in the Sangwe Communal Lands and
the equitable sharing of benefits for the local population.
Environmental and socioeconomic threats in the lowveld
Masvingo Province is located in south-eastern Zimbabwe, bordering
Mozambique on its eastern border and the provinces of Matabeleland
South, Midlands, and Manicaland. In the province of 56,566 km², the
population of approximately 1.3 million is dominated by the Karanga
people. The province is located in the ‘lowveld’ of the country, where
rainfall is infrequent and uncertain. A large part of the southern part
of the province is prone to drought, meaning the ecosystems are
predominantly dryland.
The poverty and environment challenges which catalyzed the
creation of CHIEHA are common to rural Zimbabwe. Much of
the population is engaged in environmentally and economically
unsustainable activities, including the harvesting and sale of fodder
and firewood, commercial brick molding, and wildlife poaching. The
region has also experienced extensive environmental decline in the
form of habitat destruction, deforestation (notably in the Zivambava
Island forest and the Chibememe mainland forest), land degradation
and erosion, and deteriorating numbers in flagship species due to
poaching. Importantly, the initiative was also formed in response
to a cultural challenge – the steady loss and decline of indigenous
knowledge systems, oral history and traditional norms, all of which
unpin sustainable land use strategies.
A community-based initiative; partnership model
Operating in the cultivated and forested semi-arid savanna ecosystem,
CHIEHA works to foster a spirit of communal participation in the
conservation of its cultural and natural resources. The organization
encouraged the equal involvement of men, women and youth in its
decision-making and programming and has established networks
to share information amongst a range of relevant stakeholders
(most importantly, the local population) about environmental
conservation, local culture, and sustainable development strategies
and activities. CHIEHA employs a participatory approach to its
management and programming, working on an ongoing basis to
strengthen and build the capacity of local residents to participate in
development and conservation decisions.
Women and youth groups were key players in the establishment of
CHIEHA, as two groups squarely at the forefront of the socioeconomic
and environmental challenges at the village level. Traditional
leadership has been equally essential in the success of the initiative,
particularly in the conservation and revitalization of indigenous
knowledge systems. The initiative has also developed critical
partnerships and relationships with government (relevant line
ministries and departments, such as the Ministry of Environment and
Tourism), multilateral and bilateral development agencies (UNDP,
Canadian International Development Agency), and environmental
and development NGOs (Malilangwe and Save Valley Conservancy,
SAFIRE, and Assistance for Underprivileged Rural People).
The most active participants in CHIEHA’s work, as well as the primary
project beneficiaries, are the 17 households that make up Chibememe
village. Benefits extend well beyond this group, however, to network
members that include the adjoining villages of Sangwe, Ndowoyo,
Matema and Musikavanhu Communal Lands. Engagement of
neighboring villages and the extension of project benefits has
occurred through: i) replication of the CHIEHA organizational model,
and support in the formation of community-based collective action
organizations (examples include the Mazivandagara project in Manjira
village and the Kushinga Gully Reclamation project); extension of the
CHIEHA coordinator and two field assistants to work with interested
communities in other villages; engagement in environmental and
34

cultural awareness-raising activities, meetings and workshops held at
the CHIEHA Information Centre; and support in resource mobilization
and securing funds for the implementation of village conservation
activities. Outreach to local communities is also done through
partnership development; making connections between community
and villages needs and the capacities of network partners (including
CBOs, line ministries, and others).
Sustainable natural resource management
One of CHIEHA’s primary objectives is the sustainable management
and use of natural resources in the Sangwe area and the Great
Limpopo Transfrontier Park Conservation Area (GLTPCA). The GLTPCA
is a young network, still in its development stage, but which aims to
link and integrate the efforts of local, community-based organizations
active in sustainable development. Groups involved in the network are
diverse, and include traditional leadership organizations, catchment
management programs, and wildlife protection committees. While
the majority of current members are from Zimbabwe, the long-term
objective of the network is to attract members across the borders
of Mozambique and South Africa. Many community members are
related culturally, share a common language, and draw from the same
common pool resources – water, wildlife and forests. CHIEHA has
been a pivotal advocate in the development and coordination of the
network, and has used it effectively as a knowledge sharing platform
in which communities can share experiences and lessons learned,
market their products, and foment partnerships.
Tourism based on local natural and cultural heritage
CHIEHA also promotes eco- and ethno-tourism as a means of
conserving local biodiversity and preserving cultural heritage.
The ecotourism initiatives of CHIEHA are based on the natural and
cultural resources of the Sangwe area. The region has a great deal to
recommend it for tourism, including Zivambava Island, the Ndongo
Ruins, the Chibememe mainland forest, and an abundance of local
technology, art, song and dance. While current levels of tourism
in the southeast region of Zimbabwe are quite low, CHIEHA’s ecotourism
programs have the potential to become the engine of
growth. CHIEHA is located in close proximity to two key wildlife
sanctuaries, which are critical corridors of the GLTPCA – the 500,000
km Gonarezhou National Park (the second largest national park
in Zimbabwe) and the 350,000 km Save Valley Conservancy (the
largest privately owned wildlife sanctuary in Africa). These wildlife
havens have a great deal of potential to support CHIEHA tourism
initiatives and to attract low-impact tourism. So too, the Chibememe
community and the communities of the Sangwe communal lands
have a diverse and rich cultural heritage, which can be the basis of
ethno-tourism projects.
Other crosscutting objectives of CHIEHA include: the restoration
and revival of the cultures and traditions of the Sangwe and
surrounding communities for future generations; the fostering of
a spirit of participation in the preservation and conservation of the
region’s natural and cultural heritage; raising the standard of living
of members through livelihoods diversification; empowering local
participation and engagement in policy-making processes; and the
effective integration of natural resource conservation, traditional
knowledge and land management systems, and sustainable
development planning.
Organizational structure
CHIEHA is governed by a number of administrative committees.
As a registered community conservation trust, the organization is
overseen by a Board of Trustees comprised of traditional leaders,
local community members, local authorities, and representatives
of women’s groups, line ministries, local NGOs and local schools.
The Board of Trustees is nominated by the local population and
retain responsibility for strategic guidance, policy development and
assistance in resource mobilization and fundraising. An Executive
Committee comprised of elected members of the local community
is responsible for the day-to-day management of CHIEHA, as well
as oversight of activities and programs in concert with CHIEHA’s
Coordinator. The major projects of CHIEHA are also overseen by
sub-committees, which work cooperatively with the Coordinator
and report to the Executive Committee. Example of sub-committees
include: Earth Healing and Catchment Management, Environmental
and Cultural Information and Energy Project, Nutritional Garden,
Sustainable Agriculture, Zivemava Island Forest Conservation, and
Income Generation. Committees emerge and disassemble organically,
based on project cycles and on what projects are operational at
any given time. Coordination of the committees is often done on a
voluntary or part-time basis. Committees are open to any member
of the community. Committee members retain responsibility for
organizing and coordinating all the activities associated with the
respective projects. All seven Executive Committee members are
from the Chibememe community, comprised of four women and
three men. Eight of the twelve members of the CHIEHA Conservation
and Development Trust board of trustees are from the community.
“Climate change is a reality for all of us. Local communities are the custodians of forest
resources which are the world’s major carbon sinks – it is therefore the responsibility of
all stakeholders to respect their voices in climate change negotiations.”
Gladman Chibememe, CHIEHA
35

Key Activities and Innovations
One of CHIEHA’s key innovations has been the establishment of the
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park Conservation Area Community
Network, which oversees co-management of a wildlife area, lobbies
for policies and laws that are friendly to rural farmers, promotes
the inclusion of community rights, and petitions government for
community benefits from biodiversity and sustainable use efforts in
and around Zimbabwe’s protected areas. CHIEHA has also focused its
activities on income generation and food security, and established
a community-based non-timber forest product processing centre,
several ethno- and eco-tourism projects, and a sustainable
agriculture project. With regards to the latter, efforts have been made
to rehabilitate and protect degraded lands, employ a catchment
management approach, undertake resource monitoring, reduce soil
erosion and reclaim gullies.
and livelihood alternatives. Traditional knowledge systems are used
in the conservation of agricultural biodiversity, forests, and wildlife
resources in Sangwe. By building on local knowledge, culture,
capacity, and institutions, CHIEHA has been able to fuse traditional
and modern conservation ethics.
Culturally-appropriate environmental education
A crosscutting activity for CHIEHA is environmental awarenessraising
with surrounding communities. The organization operates
an Environment and Cultural Information Centre that serves as
a nucleus for heritage festivals, outreach, the restoration of local
cultural sites, and the organization of environmental bicycle rides. As
one specific example of environmental awareness activities, CHIEHA
organizes drama performances such as the Jengeta Zviwanikwa
Reva Sangwe (Conservation Ethics of the Sangwe People), which are
targeted to national conferences, schools and cultural functions. The
performances, which are often combined with traditional dances,
regularly communicate the need to conserve and sustainably use
biodiversity. (One student involved in this performance company
has gone on to receive a degree in Theatre Arts and Drama from the
local university).
Critically, CHIEHA’s innovation has been in the reintroduction and
conservation of indigenous knowledge, as well as its application
in addressing human-wildlife conflict, local capacity to manage
natural resources, partnership building and network development,
36

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTCS
CHIEHA conservation and sustainable use activities have concentrated
on the Zivambava Island Forest and Chibememe Mainland Forest, a
combination of diverse riverine and savanna vegetation ecosystems.
In Zivambava Island Forest alone, CHIEHA has been responsible for
a doubling of the forest cover, with more than 200 hectares now
protected. A further 120 hectares of forest surrounding Chibememe
village have been conserved and used sustainably by the local
population. The area is used for livestock rearing and the collection
of non-timber forest products. The forests contain a high density
of unique grass, trees, shrub and aloe species; several threatened
animal species, including monkeys, pythons (three breeding sites
with more than twelve snakes per site have been identified by
community members), and elephants; a diverse assortment of bird
species, including doves, honeycobs, qualias, eagles, and parrots; and
populations of smaller mammals such as porcupines and anti bears.
Human-wildlife conflict has been a priority for CHIEHA, as the
farmers of Chibememe village and the Sangwe communal land
come into regular contact with monkeys, wild pigs and elephants
which can cause significant damage to agricultural projects and
crop lands. Small game come from local forests and wood lots, while
bigger game (e.g. elephants) comes from adjacent conservancies,
national parks and private farms. CHIEHA has worked with the local
population to employ a number of traditional land management
techniques to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, notably growing
crops on the boundaries of farms and fields that include sorghum,
rapoko and cotton, which tend to repel these animals, and which
serve as a natural buffer to facilitate co-habitation.
CHIEHA does monitoring and evaluation of wildlife populations
and natural resources through a participatory approach of local
sampling. The group monitors the collection of firewood, timber,
wild fruit and river sand, using community reporting. The same
approach is employed for monitoring forest and grass cover and
wildlife populations. Community members undertake sample
counts, with a standard template which indicated the abundance,
stability and depletion of known species in the area. Field guides
monitor a range of species and combine this with feedback from
the community – a combination of personal patrols and community
reports. For larger game and wildlife, community monitors check for
footprints and record different sounds.
Additionally, CHIEHA is currently in the process of negotiating the
possible co-management of a 10,000-hectare local wildlife area.
There are positive signs that a Wildlife Land Reform Policy offers a
window of opportunity for CHIEHA to leverage the success of the
GLTPCA network and achieve success in its bid.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
CHIEHA has clearly defined socioeconomic goals which include:
raising the standard of living of group members by expanding
sustainable livelihood options; restoring and reclaiming lost culture
and traditions of the Sangwe; enhancing the participation of women
and youth in conservation efforts; and strengthening the capacity
of Sangwe residents to manage natural resources. The primary
project beneficiaries are communities in the South Eastern Lowveld
of Zimbabwe. The project’s target population is more than 150,000
people, 65 percent of whom are women, all of whom live in rural areas,
and over 80 percent of whom live below the national poverty line.
The axes of CHIEHA’s work in sustainable livelihoods are the Non-
Timber Forest Products Processing Centre and the multipurpose
CHIEHA Environmental and Cultural Information Centre. The former is
still under development, but currently processes a modest number of
agro-biodiversity products, including peanut butter, Kigelia Africanna
juice, and essential oils. The CHIEHA Environmental and Cultural
Information Centre is the locus of awareness raising, environment
and sustainable development workshops and meetings, information
37

for eco- and ethno-tourism services, coordination of the GLTPCA and
other community knowledge sharing networks, and participatory
research initiatives (on both local culture and biodiversity). CHIEHA
has ambitions to develop the centre into a robust training facility for
community-based natural resource management practitioners in the
GLTPCA.
Land tenure is at the heart of CHIEHA’s work, and tenure security
enables community-based land management and a diversification
of income generation strategies. The target population of CHIEHA’s
work lives on communal lands. The rural or district council, the most
localized government administrative unit, owns the land on behalf of
the state and the community. It is responsible for land administration,
including the allocation of state land for commercial or business
purposes, community ownership, etc. At the same time, traditional
authorities such as village heads, sub-chiefs, and chiefs own and
administer the land on which their people reside. In this system,
traditional leaders allocate land to family units of the community, as
well as individual private land in the form of agricultural fields and
homesteads. Traditional leaders are responsible for the administration
of common property land and access to common pool resources
such as grazing land, water and sacred sites. Under these two
systems of land governance, CHIEHA has been allocated both the
Zivembava Island Forest and the Chibememe Mainland Forest for
both conservation and sustainable natural resource management.
A traditional council resolution has mandated the community to
manage local resources and protect local biodiversity. At the same
time, much of the land surrounding the Sangwe communal lands is
protected area land, including the Gonarezhou National Park, which
is classified as state land, and the Save Valley Conservancy, which is
Africa’s largest privately owned wildlife sanctuary.
Traditional knowledge is essential in the operation of CHIEHA
programs, particularly in the areas of farming and health. Since the
Sangwe and Chibememe area is drought prone, traditional droughttolerant
crops such as sorghum, rapoko and sesame are grown.
Traditional crop management systems including multi-cropping,
water harvesting and agro-forestry are commonly practiced.
Customary sustainable use is also commonly practiced in the
mainland forests in the collection of fruits, edible caterpillars and
insects, bull frogs, honey, and fish.
Since the project started, average household incomes have increased
by 20 percent. Through CHIEHA’s work, three full time jobs have been
created, along with more than eight part-time positions. CHIEHA
has supported community members to diversify their livelihoods,
including in sustainable agriculture, household gardening, ethnoand
eco-tourism, and agro-processing.
38

POLICY IMPACTS
CHIEHA has been actively involved since its inception in policy
development processes, working with different leadership structures
in various villages, wards and districts to ensure that the interests
of the local population living on communal lands are incorporated
into policy development processes. In particular, CHIEHA has used
ward councilors as an entry point for the direct participation of local
community representatives in decision-making processes.
Notably, CHIEHA was instrumental in providing inputs into
the National Environment Policy and Strategies in 2009-2010,
which included important provisions on community conserved
areas, conservancies, community partnerships, co-management
arrangements for protected areas, prior informed consent, and
sustainable agriculture. CHIEHA was equally active in shaping the
Wildlife-Based Land Reform Policy, ensuring that the policy consider
the essential role of local communities as partners in wildlife
management initiatives, and the inclusion of indigenous investors as
part of wildlife-based ecotourism ventures. Moreover, CHIEHA was
involved in lobbying for the inclusion of environmental and local
community rights in Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Reform Process.
Contributions included recognition of the special relationship
(and related rights) of indigenous peoples in the conservation and
maintenance of the country’s cultural and natural heritage, as well as
provisions on ownership rights over local natural resources, access
and benefit sharing, environmental health and local wellbeing, and
traditional property rights.
CHIEHA has also been active in providing policy inputs at the
regional level, participating in a number of African and SADC
regional biodiversity policy processes on access and benefit sharing
(ABS).
“Local community involvement in the CBD process has been limited over the years. If
there is one thing you can do for local communities, it is to walk the talk and begin to
take on board the interests of local communities in a clear, concrete and practical way—
they are key partners in addressing the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.”
Gladman Chibememe, CHIEHA
39

Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
CHIEHA has attained institutional sustainability through the
adoption of a “cluster and network” approach and lobbying efforts
to create an enabling environment for local communities to manage
their natural resource and participate directly in the policymaking
processes. The “cluster and network” approach involves mobilization
of community-based organizations that share an ecological region,
ecosystems, or catchment area to work together in addressing
common conservation and development challenges. Cluster
members share joint capacity building and training programs,
and often coordinate resource mobilization efforts. CHIEHA has
been using this approach for knowledge sharing and joint efforts
among seven community-based organizations on Zimbabwe side
of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park Conservation Area. CHIEHA
has used this platform to encourage other communities to form
community-based organization, which ultimately have joined the
network.
Also key to the project’s sustainability and resonance with the local
population has been the use of traditional and indigenous knowledge
systems, direct community ownership and participation in decisionmaking,
and a holistic approach to conservation, livelihoods and
community health and wellbeing. In addition, CHIEHA has leveraged
strategic partnerships and networks to achieve substantial results
with relatively modest resources. Tenure security has been equally
essential as the foundation on which to build community-based
natural resource management strategies, and CHIEHA’s position as
a legally incorporated community-based organization has bolstered
its efforts with legitimacy.
REPLICATION
CHIEHA has been successful at sharing lessons on both their successes
and challenges with other communities. This has been accomplished
primarily through the CHIEHA Environmental and Cultural Information
Centre as well as the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park Conservation
Area Community Network, but also through networks such as the
ABS Capacity Building for Africa and the International Indigenous
Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB). Local and regional media has also been
used to reach target communities and other stakeholders, as well as
community bicycle rides, drama performances and heritage festivals.
CHIEHA views peer-to-peer knowledge exchange as a powerful way
of sharing information and enabling local communities to speak
directly to one another about the challenges that confront them. It
has been their experience that local communities learn and connect
more with initiatives that have faced common problems of bottom-up
conservation and development solutions.
PARTNERS
CHIEHA depends on their diverse partnership model. For example,
the Zimbabwe Environment Lawyers Association helped CHIEHA
incorporate as a legally registered community-based organization
and often provides policy guidance, as was done on the constitutional
reform process. Partners such as the Africa 2000 Network Foundation
Zimbabwe have helped with capacity building and network
development. The UNDP GEF-Small Grants Programme has provided
essential financial support, while various national line ministries (e.g.
the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management)
have provided policy guidance.
40

COMMUNITY MARKETS FOR
CONSERVATION (COMACO)
Zambia
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Portuguese
Zambia’s Luangwa Valley is the setting for a pioneering initiative that is transforming the
local economy and reducing human pressures wildlife. Led by the Wildlife Conservation
Society, Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) has brought about substantial
livelihoods and conservation benefits through a producer group model of collective
learning, reaching more than 40,000 farming households with training in conservation
farming techniques.
Farmers are invited to become COMACO members in return for adopting a package of
eco-agriculture and organic farming techniques that both reduce the environmental
impact of farming and drastically improve agricultural yields. COMACO purchases farm
commodities through a network of depots and collection centres, alleviating transport
costs and guaranteeing a premium for organic produce through the payment of an
annual dividend to member farmers. The initiative has been particularly successful in
converting poachers to farmers.

Background and Context
Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) promotes income
generation, biodiversity conservation, and food security in Zambia’s
Luangwa Valley. The organization links more than 40,000 rural
households with lucrative and sustainable livelihood options,
encourages methods for improving agricultural outputs through
“conservation farming”, and provides access to markets.
Contrasting ecological wealth and economic poverty
The Luangwa Valley represents a critical destination for tourism in
Zambia, attracting great international interest for its large mammal
populations and sprawling wildlands. Annually, over 20,000 tourists
visit its two main parks, North and South Luangwa National Parks,
generating over USD 15 million in tourism revenues. These parks
provide a relatively safe environment for over twenty large mammal
species, including elephant, lion and wild dog. Surrounding these
parks are community lands with human densities varying from three
to more than fifty people per km2, stretching from the valley floor
to surrounding plateau areas that constitute the valley’s watershed.
Average annual household income for these communities in 2004
was below USD 100 in all but one area, and a significant portion
suffered from chronic food shortages.
Poverty, low yields and deforestation: a vicious cycle
Farming is the main livelihood activity for Luangwa Valley’s residents,
concentrated in alluvial soils along tributaries of the Luangwa River.
Maize is the staple crop, although a variety of grains, vegetables,
and fruits are grown. Trypanosomiasis has restricted cattle rearing,
while reliance on hand tillage largely restricts household plot sizes
to smallholder status. Traditional agricultural practices including
clearing and tree coppicing are common, with cut wood being
burned for fuel. Fallowing typically occurs at four to ten-year intervals.
In attempts to spur economic development in rural Zambia, largescale
contract farming or “out-grower” schemes have promoted
household planting of cotton and tobacco. While these schemes
have been successful in brining capital to household producers, they
have also contributed to Zambia’s high rate of deforestation. Without
chemical fertilizers, farmers have begun changing plots every two
to three years, significantly increasing the amount of cleared land.
Despite its small size, Zambia is second in Africa and fifth in the
world in terms of highest absolute annual loss of forest area.
Deforestation and intensive farming have in turn led to decreases
in agricultural productivity. Combined with periods of poor rainfall,
Table 1: Average household annual incomes for residents of Luangwa valley floor and plateau
Chief’s Area Year surveyed Households % food secure Average income (USD)
Valley areas (six chiefdoms) 2001 1,065 34 $76.00
Chief Chikomeni, plateau 2004 192 42.9 $83.50
Chief Zumwanda, plateau 2004 517 63.1 $88.00
Chief Mwasemphangwe, plateau 2004 460 60.4 $137.70
Chief Magodi, plateau 2004 1,028 42.8 $90.00
Source: COMACO.
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farmers’ overreliance on non-food crops has left household incomes
susceptible to commodity market fluctuations, and has decreased
household food security. Surveys have shown that when they are
food insecure, more than half of farmers in the Luangwa Valley turn
to poaching, setting wire snares for wildlife. A small percentage of
residents are “professional poachers,” using locally made guns to hunt
a variety of species. Although currently less common, elephants and
rhinos were often targeted as a commercial activity by organized
groups from outside the Valley. This has decimated wildlife numbers
in the region. Other coping mechanisms for periods of drought
include fishing and timber-felling for charcoal production.
Introduction of sustainable agriculture
These conditions were extensively surveyed by a team of researchers
led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). They identified low
household incomes and widespread food insecurity as responsible
for the high level of poaching and snaring. In 2003, WCS introduced
a producer group model for local farmers, using market incentives to
encourage sustainable agricultural practices. Since then, COMACO’s
extension officers have trained more than 40,000 farmers in
conservation farming techniques, which include dry-season land
preparation using no or minimal tillage; repeated use of small basins
for planting and for soil amendments such as compost; using crop
residues to suppress weed growth, return nutrients to the soil, and
help retain moisture, rather than burning them; and rotating and
inter-planting crops with nitrogen-fixing species. These practices
improve agricultural yields and reduce the demand for land, thereby
limiting agricultural drivers of deforestation. Farmers that apply these
practices are certified by COMACO, and are typically able to move from
household food deficits to food surpluses within two to three years.
By complying with these practices, farmers are also assured longterm
trade benefits with COMACO. To drive this partnership, farm
surplus purchased by COMACO is manufactured and sold as valueadded
processed products, or sold to high-paying commodity
markets. COMACO generates eco-friendly products (under the brand
name “It’s Wild!”) ranging from rice to peanut butter, cultivated
without pesticides or fertilizers. These products are catered to
ecotourism visitors to South Luangwa National Park, creating a
direct link between the “one-acre” farmer and the best possible local
market to reward good farming and land use practices. Incentives
for compliance have been incorporated within this structure, initially
in the form of a price premium for COMACO-certified farmers who
sell to the organisation. This system has been changed, however, to
a dividend that is paid to all producer groups that are certified as
compliant, whether they sell to COMACO or another buyer.
COMACO operates as a legally registered limited-by-guarantee
company and functions both as an agro-food processing company
and as a commodity trader. By providing this dual role, COMACO has
been able to scale up its market reach to a large enough number of
farmers living in Luangwa Valley to have a landscape-scale impact
on both conservation and livelihoods.
43

Key Activities and Innovations
The individual farmer, whether man or woman, is COMACO’s starting
point for influencing behaviour and affecting positive change for
conservation and family well-being. The process of involvement
consists of producer groups, typically made up of about 15 members,
which all COMACO-registered farmers are required to join. Larger
producer group cooperatives represent all of the producer groups
for a given chiefdom.
Peer-to-peer learning, rooted in local capacity
COMACO uses a highly adaptive farmer extension model to mobilize
large numbers of unskilled farmers, some of whom would otherwise
depend on wildlife snaring and hunting, to learn improved farming
methods with support in the form of seed supplies and on-going
training and field demonstrations. The goal is to enable the farmers
to produce a surplus, typically within two to three years. This process
is facilitated by peer support through the producer group model.
Also supporting this process is a team of salaried extension workers
and a much larger force of lead farmers: local COMACO farmers
selected for their skills and who volunteer their services in training
others. In exchange, these lead farmers earn a commission from
the commodities sold to COMACO by the farmers they help train.
The model focuses on food-based commodities, including maize,
soybeans, groundnuts, millet, and a wide range of bean varieties, as
well as honey.
COMACO relies heavily on its relations with communities and
traditional rulers in the various chiefdoms of the Luangwa Valley.
When entering an area, extension officers seek assistance from the
village headman to identify those households in greatest need, as
well as those most responsible for resource degradation, such as
professional poachers or charcoal makers. These assessments are
verified via survey, and then selected households are encouraged
to participate. In practice, more households in a new area typically
request participation than can be trained in a single season. The
model’s goal is that, within a maximum of four years, participants will
be able to support household food needs independently through
increased yields from conservation farming and improved income
through market access.
Bringing market access to marginalized farmers
Members of these producer groups bring their surplus to one of
COMACO’s 57 local trading depots, located within the farming
community, to sell directly to COMACO. The transaction is a
transparent exercise: prices are posted, weighing scales verify
weights, and cash is paid in full in most cases. Once the depots have
enough bulk commodities, a regional conservation trading centre,
operated by COMACO, dispatches a truck to the depot for collection.
The commodities are then processed at the conservation trading
centre and moved on to markets. The manufacturing process results
44

in high-quality, organic food-processed products, packaged and
branded attractively to compete with more established brands in
retail stores throughout Zambia. COMACO’s marketing strengths
are the quality of the product and the human stories behind
these goods. It’s Wild! products are found at Mfuwe International
Airport, in the region’s largest settlement, in outlying towns, and in
supermarkets in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka.
training, group formation, and farming results have been witnessed.
While still recruiting farmers with annual family incomes of less
than USD 100 and with food supplies inadequate to reach the next
harvest, many of those who are members and now supported by
COMACO’s trade benefits have emerged with livelihoods that offer
a better future for both family members and the natural resources
they live alongside.
Incentivizing conservation farming
The added value from this marketing approach provides a sufficient
sales margin to sustain a range of incentives to keep farmers
compliant to the sustainable farming practices that help build
healthy soils and reduce the need to clear more trees. Incentives for
compliance were initially provided through higher prices for certified
farmers versus non-certified farmers. Using this pricing structure
as the sole mechanism to maintain compliance was found to be
inadequate, however. During its early growth, COMACO often lacked
the capital needed for purchases at the higher prices at the precise
time when the farmers needed to sell, resulting in farmer frustration,
reduced compliance, and increased sales to alternative buyers. In
2010, in place of this system, COMACO introduced a “conservation
dividend” mechanism to reward all producer groups that are certified
as compliant, whether they sell to COMACO or another buyer. This
dividend is not a subsidy but rather a true dividend: an incentive
returned to members that varies from year to year. Payment takes
the form of cash, seed inputs, and farm implements. The dividend
is disbursed just before the beginning of the wet season (known
locally as the “hungry season”) when household food and financial
reserves are typically low and new crops are about to be planted.
In 2010, the dividend included one or more of the following,
depending on local conditions: treadle pumps, beehives, and hoes.
The dividend mechanism is designed to promote conservation
farming compliance and the use of new technologies and, to a lesser
extent, to smooth household food availability. From a business
perspective, the dividend system allows the incentive to be given
after the production and sale of value-added products as opposed
to at the time of purchase of raw materials. The approach represents
a major adaptive management adjustment.
Organization growth and monitoring
The process has developed by iterations every year, and the project
has seen a continued growth of farmer members seeking access
to these skills and markets. The current number of registered
farmer members in the COMACO program is 32,454. The current
trend suggests an annual member growth rate of about 20%. As
an extreme response to non-compliance, COMACO enforces trade
sanctions on communities who renege on their commitment to
abandon poaching or snaring by either denying dividend payments
or not bringing markets and extension services to their area.
Keeping track of this organization and key livelihood indicators of its
participating farmers and their families is a major task for COMACO.
Extensive socioeconomic and ecological monitoring is carried out
by COMACO staff and in tandem with external researchers. From
its inception in 2003, enormous progress in farmer recruitment,
45

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Positive biodiversity impacts have been observed throughout the
region in which COMACO works, benefitting the flora and fauna of
the Luangwa Valley. These impacts have been achieved through
various channels, resulting from different aspects of COMACO’s
work, and have been measured by the organisation’s staff during
aerial monitoring exercises.
Conserving forest cover
Reducing rates of deforestation in the valley has been a primary
aim for COMACO’s environmental work. This has been successfully
achieved through various means. Offering farmers financial
incentives for growing various food crops has resulted in a reduction
in cotton growing. Cotton growing typically leads to large losses
in tree cover as land is cleared for cultivation. Increased crop
diversification of legumes of up to 30% and improved crop rotation
has allowed for the replenishment of soil nitrogen, meanwhile,
resulting in shorter fallow periods and further reducing the need for
smallholder farmers to cut trees.
Tree cover has also improved thanks to the reduced dependency on
destructive livelihood practices, such as charcoal making, which saw
trees cut for burning. In place of these high-impact income-generating
activities, COMACO has encouraged the adoption of environmentallyfriendly
bee hives for small-scale apiculture. To date, over 7,000 bar
hives and 12,000 log hives have been made by COMACO farmers.
These hive varieties reduce the practice of cutting trees for their wild
honey, which in turn offers an alternative to charcoal-making.
Protecting the valley’s wildlife
In addition to reducing habitat loss, COMACO has attempted to
conserve wildlife by reducing illegal snaring and poaching with guns.
To date, more than 61,000 wire snares and 1,467 guns have been
turned in by participants. Training of poachers in alternative careers
began as a pilot program in 2001, preceding the implementation
of COMACO’s market components, and has continued as a flagship
programme for the organisation in Luangwa Valley: more than 760
individuals have completed the program to date.
Positive results from reduced poaching were observed through aerial
surveys undertaken by COMACO staff in conjunction with outside
researchers between 1999 and 2008. Comparing data from “pre-
COMACO” aerial wildlife surveys in 1999 and 2002 against results
from surveys performed on the same flight transects in 2006 and
2008 showed that populations of most species were either stable or
increasing. The degree of the positive change suggests that reduced
hunting pressure likely contributed to redistribution of animals back
into game management areas. Previous reports suggested that
46

Figure 1: Comparison of wildlife populations from aerial surveys performed in 1999 and 2002 (pre-COMACO) versus 2006 and
2008 (COMACO). Variance weighted averages are listed.
Source: Lewis, D., et al. 2011.
several large-bodied ungulates were in decline from 1979 to 1996.
Because these species are desirable targets for poaching and are
particularly sensitive to it, the stability of eland, hartebeest, kudu,
roan, waterbuck, wildebeest, and zebra populations is noteworthy.
Stability of the elephant population is also of special importance,
given the recent local history and focus for regional tourism.
The relative impacts of COMACO’s poacher transformation program,
snare removal, improvements in the efficacy of the Zambia Wildlife
Authority (ZAWA), and other anti-poaching efforts are unclear. (Social
surveys of professional poachers indicate that multiple arrests and
convictions are insufficient to deter most from returning to poaching.)
However, independent evidence from ZAWA’s patrol reports shows
that despite seasonal and yearly fluctuations, an overall downward
trend in snares recovered from national parks and game management
areas was observed by consistent patrolling efforts over time. These
findings suggest that COMACO’s snare removal provided benefits to
wildlife in the areas in which its participants live.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Alongside impressive ecological benefits, COMACO has had
substantial measurable impacts on the social and economic welfare
of the valley’s farming households. These impacts have been seen
primarily through increased household incomes from selling
commodities to COMACO and improved household food security
due to improved access to seed supplies and agricultural practices.
COMACO’s model has also acted as a vehicle for other positive social
impacts, by facilitating access to health advice, and reinforcing
important socio-cultural institutions.
Combating hunger and income poverty
The typical farmer who joins COMACO produces a net deficit of food –
the household runs out of food before the next harvest – and has little or
limited access to markets. A pre-COMACO household livelihood baseline
47

survey for Luangwa Valley residents in 2000 revealed annual household
incomes averaged USD 79 and depending on rainfall, as many as 60%
of valley residents were not food secure, forcing many to rely on wildlife
snaring to help meet their food shortfalls. Current household income
data shows households that have transitioned out of a food deficit to
a food surplus status thanks to implementing COMACO conservation
farming practices now earn an annual average of approximately USD
220, a sizeable increase compared to 2000 average levels. The combined
value of income and increased household food production represents
a net annual household income of approximately USD 300 for the
average COMACO-certified farming household.
COMACO undertakes data collection at each depot to record the
name of the farmers selling to the organisation. Approximately
52% of registered farmers are women. On average, over 10,000
farmers sell their surplus commodities to COMACO each year, and
over 90% are COMACO-registered farmers. The 10,585 farmers who
sold to COMACO in 2010 represented about 30% of total COMACO
members, however, suggesting that the remaining 70% are still in
the process of moving from a net food deficit into a surplus.
In 2010, farmers received approximately 3.74 billion Zambian Kwacha
(ZMK), or ZMK 387,530 per individual (USD 86). This represented around
40% of a family’s total annual income; the actual percentage could
be considerably higher when considering both husbands and wives
for individual households can sell their crops separately to COMACO.
Incomes from selling commodities are also boosted thanks to COMACO’s
policy of buying farm produce through collection depots. Through its
57 depots and various transport assets, COMACO is in most cases able
to collect farmer commodities as a service, which saves farmers from
having to bear these costs. In some rural areas where COMACO does
not operate, these transport costs can represent as much as 20% of the
value of the commodity.
Pricing incentives and dividend distribution offered by COMACO
has greatly increased farmer interest in growing the selected food
crops that COMACO buys and in most cases turns into value-added
products, while improved agricultural productivity has allowed for
increased crop yields and crop diversification, leading to greater food
security and higher incomes. COMACO farmers are able to generate
far higher incomes from household farms. In 2010, farmers could
make ZMK 1,040,000 from growing rice on a plot measuring 50m
Table 2: Numbers of households growing grain or cassava in 2000 compared to 2009 for valley areas in COMACO East
cassava maize millet rice sorghum
Year: 2000; 1059 sampled (random, pre-COMACO)
Chifunda 0 337 50 76 11
Chikwa 4 103 37 8 4
Lower Lumimba 0 242 0 26 114
Upper Lumimba 1 300 7 33 39
Totals: 5 982 94 143 168
%: 0.4% 92.7% 8.9% 13.5% 15.9%
Year: 2009; 3202 sampled (COMACO farmers)
Chifunda 76 443 49 319 49
Chikwa 61 783 185 650 99
Lower Lumimba 86 208 0 198 173
Upper Lumimba 58 1428 27 1040 163
Totals: 281 2862 261 2207 484
%: 8.9% 89.4% 8.2% 68.9% 15.1%
Source: COMACO.
48

y 50m, representing a 300% increase from pre-COMACO prices. The
same plot size would earn farmers ZMK 684,000 for groundnuts, a
270% increase; ZMK 324,000 from soy beans, a 180% increase; and
ZMK 890,000 from beans, or a 200% increase.
Crop diversification for food security and resilience
Production of rice has increased by 300%, groundnuts by 270% and
soybeans by 180%. The number of rice growers has increased fivefold,
which correlates with the three-fold increase in commodity price
since 2000, while cassava growers have increased over ten-fold. Most
importantly, the number of different food crops contributing to income
has increased from 10 to 16. The increase in crop number is attributed
to the introduction of three additional legumes – sugar beans, soybeans
and cowpeas – to improve soil quality. This greater diversification
of household food crops has allowed for greater food security and
resilience in the face of unpredictable weather patterns. Since severe
flooding in 2007, additional emphasis has been placed on crops able to
withstand or mitigate effects of flooding and drought such as cassava
and sweet potatoes. In this way, the model differs from out-grower
schemes, which are typically highly focused on single crops.
Data from various sources including interviews, independent
studies, and comparison of demonstration and control plots
support the positive impact COMACO is having on improving farm
yields. Contributing to this success are three major factors: market
incentives, seed inputs provided on a seed-recovery loan basis, and
year-round extension support.
Market and non-market incentives: The market incentive model has
been improved by iterations. In 2010, 27,673 COMACO ID cards were
issued to registered farmers. These ID cards were used to reward
farmers compliant with COMACO conservation farming techniques
with slightly higher commodity prices compared to non-COMACO
farmers at collection depots. 2010 marked the first year in which
COMACO also conducted a compliance inspection and scored
farmers according to a list of criteria. The highest scoring producer
groups were rewarded with a conservation dividend in place of the
price premium on commodities.
Another incentive for compliance currently under consideration
is to provide school fee loans to families who are compliant with
conservation farming and have a good track record of selling
commodities to COMACO. Repayment would be in the form of crops
sold to COMACO at harvest time.
Improve seed availability: Seed availability and seed diversification
are major constraints to achieving food security for small-scale
farmers living in remote areas of Luangwa Valley. COMACO has
worked to overcome these challenges. The organisation contributes
an annual 150-250 tons of seeds to its farmers; approximately half of
this amount comes from COMACO’s own revolving supply of seeds
recovered from its loan-receiving farmers.
Farmer-to-farmer extension: Complementing this support is a
community-based farmer extension system that builds on the local
support of over 639 lead farmers and 57 certificate or diplomaholding
salaried extension staff members who live locally. With
the use of 225 demonstration training sites, on-going field days,
and visual aids, farmers are taught the following techniques for
conservation farming:
• home-based fertilizer-making with compost and bio-char,
• mulching,
• crop thinning,
• weeding techniques,
• crop rotation,
• minimal or zero-tillage techniques,
• pot-holing,
• ploughing techniques to remove hard-pan and increase root
penetration,
• inter-cropping with agroforestry,
• water management, and
• planting densities.
Use of organic fertilizers, including bio-char
For the 2009-2010 farming season, based on a sample of 17,376
farmers, 81.7% of COMACO farmers complied with key elements
of the conservation farming approach, including the use of homemade
compost or bio-char fertilizer to grow their primary food
staple, maize. The increase in yields compared to plots in which
conservation farming or composting was not used varies from 30%
to over 200%. The approaches advocated by COMACO also decreases
dependence on expensive inputs such as chemical fertilizers,
herbicides, and pesticides. This represents a major household saving
of between 10-20% of total annual income.
Bio-char in particular has been an important conservation farming
technique introduced by COMACO. Its potential for carbon
sequestration and increasing agricultural yields makes it an attractive
investment from an environmental and economic perspective.
Comparison of COMACO and non-COMACO farmers by Cornell
University (USA) showed that COMACO farmers had more carbon in
their soils on average than their counterparts.
Collective learning through producer groups
An important strategy employed by COMACO in its work has been
its producer group model. All COMACO-registered farmers are
required to be members of a producer group. These groups are
subsequently organized into producer group cooperatives, providing
environments for collaborative learning and training. By the end of
2010, all of the producer group cooperatives on the eastern side of
Luangwa Valley that had received training were legally registered;
during 2011, those on the western side are undergoing the same
process.
As well as being vehicles for sustainable agricultural extension,
producer groups have been used to provide information on health
to farming parents. Meetings of producer groups act as peer forums
in which members discuss topics such as family planning, hygiene,
and reproductive health alongside sustainable farming practices.
These discussions are facilitated by the use of ‘Better Life Books’,
49

consisting of 21 loose pages of illustrated lessons covering a range
of livelihood skills, including farming practices, fertilizer-making,
poultry rearing, and bee-keeping, as well as hygiene and family
health topics. The books promote better parenting practices and
encourage participation of girls in school.
Empowering women and strengthening institutions
An emphasis on women – 52% of registered farmers are female –
is a positive aspect of the model, given cultural gender differences
and the growing number of households headed by single women.
In 1992, 18.7% of rural households were headed by women, versus
25.4% in 2007 (Zambia Demographic Health Survey, Central
Statistical Office.)
As membership of COMACO has grown, producer group cooperatives
have engaged a wider spectrum of Luangwa Valley communities.
In particular, traditional village rulers and Community Resource
Boards have been involved in supporting COMACO’s work. The
latter are community-based organizations overseen by the Zambia
Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) to promote participatory management of
natural resources by communities. This engagement of important
community institutions has underpinned sustainable resource
decisions taken in many cases. For instance, community leaders
have taken an active role in convincing poachers to lay down their
guns. In recent years, chiefs and community leaders have assisted
with the identification and persuasion of hundreds of poachers to
undertake training provided by COMACO.
Chief Mwasemphangwe of Chipata District, meanwhile, has banned
the commercial sale of charcoal in her area because there are better
livelihood alternatives now offered by COMACO. In another case,
Chief Nyalugwe has resettled over 100 families from an area where
charcoal making had become a major source of livelihoods to an
area where these families are able to register as COMACO farmers.
Several chiefs in Serenje District have rejected attempts by investors
to create large tobacco farms in their areas, instead promoting
COMACO’s approach for local farmers.
Village institutions have also acted as mediators in cases of widespread
poaching. Chief Tembwe’s area was threatened with a COMACO trade
sanction due to high levels of poaching reported by the Zambia Wildlife
Authority. A COMACO representative travelled to meet with local leaders
to explain COMACO’s policy; these leaders were able to convene public
meetings and poaching levels were subsequently dramatically reduced.
POLICY IMPACTS
As COMACO has become better established in the Luangwa Valley area,
opportunities for collaboration with district and provincial authorities
have increasingly emerged. This has led to COMACO having a
substantial impact on conservation policy in Zambia’s Eastern Province.
Collaboration with government authorities
District and provincial authorities’ efforts to address growing
environmental concerns in the province have helped to build
partnerships with COMACO and the communities it works with. A
steering committee headed by the Province’s Permanent Secretary
is currently leading these efforts and has targeted COMACO
villages as case studies where the benefits of collaboration can be
demonstrated. One such example of collaboration is in Lundazi and
Nyimba districts, where District Forestry officers have worked with
COMACO and selected communities to support combined strategies
to reduce charcoal-making.
Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) routinely meets with COMACO
staff to discuss their joint conservation initiatives. One area of
collaboration has been in working with farming communities to
reduce human-wildlife conflict, teaching methods such as blasting
elephants with chilli smoke to protect crops. ZAWA also attaches
officers to COMACO to help facilitate certain components of the
poacher transformation program, in which poachers identified by
communities learn and adopt alternative livelihoods with market
support from COMACO.
Collaboration with district and provincial authorities is seen as key to
the sustained success of conservation efforts in the Luangwa Valley.
District authorities in Chama have worked closely with COMACO
to design a new “Community Park”: a protected area that would
bring benefits to the surrounding communities, including access to
COMACO markets. This model has also been proposed with relation
to Zambia’s status as a pilot country for REDD+ activities: REDDrelated
income could be used to create protected “carbon parks”
managed by participating communities that have been sensitized
to conservation through engagement with COMACO.
Supporting the COMACO model: “scaling-up”
A major challenge for COMACO is to maintain small-scale farming in
game management areas, but reduce the risk of small-scale farmers
becoming larger commercial farms, which would pose a greater
threat to wildlife habitats. As COMACO continues to target and
reward small-scale farmers with best practices and markets, ZAWA
could also reward the same farmers with incentives to maintain farm
plots within a limited maximum size to receive a share of wildlife
revenues. This would give farmers two income streams, from farming
and wildlife, both tied to conservation.
There is much national attention being paid to “conservation
farming” as a low-cost solution to higher farm yields and improved
soil management in Zambia. COMACO is often referred to as a
success story for its wide-spread adoption of “conservation farming”,
compared to other areas of the country where adoption levels are
relatively low. The presence of markets that reward compliance is
seen as the key feature in the COMACO model.
50

Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
COMACO’s business model has been widely documented as a case
study for sustainable agricultural enterprises. While the project
initially relied on financial and technical support from its partner
organisations, and in particular Wildlife Conservation Society, its
economic and social strengths have enabled the organisation to
become increasingly less reliant on external support over time.
Financial sustainability
COMACO aims to become financially self-supporting. The tactical
plan to achieve this has been to increase the scale of operations to
meet required thresholds for contracts of value-added products and
commodities in larger urban and export markets. Data for conservation
trading centres that are generating value-added products show progress
toward a break-even point, with the percentage of sales revenue to
total operating expenses increasing from 31% to 79% between 2008
and 2010. These data include administrative costs of expenses of the
distribution centres. Contract data also show that COMACO is providing
rural households with access to high-value urban and international
markets. Other attempts to connect rural communities with these
markets – such as the Luangwa Integrated Resource Development
Project – have not achieved a great deal of success. The lack of road and
rail infrastructure in the valley makes such access difficult, and no other
large-scale food-processing equipment exists in the area to provide a
comparable value chain. The largest contributions to total sales are
made up of items requiring relatively little processing, such as rice and
ground maize flour (used to make the staple dish, nshima.) Honey has
the highest profit margin; bee-keeping is heavily promoted for this
reason as well as for its ecosystem benefits.
Key interventions underpinning long-term success
Processing standards are maintained at a high level, ensuring that
COMACO-produced goods can reach high quality markets. In 2005,
facility improvements and intensive staff training in hygiene, safety, and
quality control allowed COMACO to obtain Hazard Analysis and Critical
Control Points (HACCP) certification. COMACO products consistently
pass quality and safety testing at the University of Zambia’s food
laboratory. These steps are essential to COMACO’s certification as a
vendor for large-volume contracts of high-energy protein supplements
with the World Food Program and Catholic Relief Services, as well as
sales to regional hospitals, schools, and commercial markets.
External support has helped in improving the quality of products.
Additional research has decreased breakage of rice and improved
packaging of peanut butter to improve quality and shelf life. These
changes have enhanced COMACO’s ability to negotiate contracts
with urban supermarkets. Retail sales are now complemented by
sales on the Zambian Agriculture Commodities Exchange.
Partner organisations have also helped to facilitate the development
of additional products. Training of a food technologist and additional
extrusion equipment donated by General Mills has enabled COMACO
to process goods such as food bars and poultry feeds. Diversification
has proven difficult because of limitations in water and electrical
infrastructure, however.
Business development; obstacles to growth
COMACO has been able to expand significantly in recent years.
New conservation trading centres in Serenje and Chinsali became
operational in 2010. In addition to increasing scale, the growth in the
number of these centres has allowed for specialization; for example,
extrusion processing is performed at Lundazi. The costs associated
with expansion are sizeable investments. As of March 31 2010,
COMACO’s capital expenditure grants totalled ZKW 3,532,727,637
(approximately USD 740,000 at then-current exchange rates), an
increase of ZKW 98,271,408 (approximately $21,000 USD) over the
previous year. COMACO’s expansion was made possible by support
from several sources, most notably the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
51

Infrastructure deficiencies remain a challenge to continued long-term
business expansion as well as product diversification, however. An
example of these limitations comes from a conservation trading centre
established at Feira. Although this was desirable from a conservation
perspective because of its proximity to the Lower Zambezi National
Park, the centre shifted to another facility at Nyimba in 2009 due to
high transportation costs, restricted varieties of local commodities,
and lack of reliable water and electricity. Nyimba has more reliable
utilities and direct access to the major paved highway running to
Lusaka, although it required substantial investment in 2008–2009 to
accommodate the new functions and scale.
The key strength of the COMACO model is its highly adaptive
nature. Beginning on a small scale in 2003 with the development of
a producer group organization, COMACO is currently restructuring
into a stand-alone business entity and continues to evolve through
an iterative, adaptive process. For example, food relief from the
World Food Program initially assisted the transition of food-insecure
households to the use of conservation farming. Over time this
temporary food aid was phased out, initially resulting in decreased
food security for some participating households. Food aid is no longer
associated with the model, yet numbers of participating households
have continued to rise steadily as COMACO has expanded its farmer
training and organization, demonstrating that its sustained impact
was not contingent on external assistance.
REPLICATION
“Scaling-out”
COMACO has demonstrated an impressive rate of internal replication
since its inception, increasing to a total of over 30,000 registered
farmers by 2010. The table below shows the rate of increase between
2009 and 2010 for COMACO’s conservation trading centres and
producer groups, and gives projected figures for 2011. The overall
growth rate of registered farmers from 2009-2010 is over 17%.
This expansion has been possible through the high level of investment
in establishing new conservation trading centres and depots, and
the adaptability of COMACO’s peer-to-peer learning model. In
pursuit of its economic goals, the organisation continues to expand,
and in 2011 has begun to offer market benefits to participants on
the western plateau. Expansion is intended to provide protection to
the core national parks on all sides.
PARTNERS
• Wildlife Conservation Society
• General Mills
• World Food Programme
• Zambia Wildlife Authority
• Zambia’s National Farmers Union
• Government of the Republic of Zambia
• Cornell University
• CARE International
• UNDP Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme
recipient, 2008
• UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
• Catholic Relief Services
• Royal Norwegian Embassy
Table 3: COMACO member growth, 2009-2010
Commodity Trading Centre
Year
Number of registered
farmers
Year
Number of registered
farmers
Producer Groups 2010/2011
(projected)
Lundazi 2009 6,592 2010 6,778 500 12,000
Chama 2009 4,298 2010 6,178 408 8,000
Mfuwe 2009 7,048 2010 7,857 511 12,500
Nyimba 2009 5,763 2010 5,974 274 11,000
Serenje 2009 1,889 2010 2,279 106 5,000
Chinsali 2009 2,083 2010 3,388 89 5,000
Total 27,637 32,454 1888 53,500
Source: COMACO.
52

GUASSA-MENZ COMMUNITY
CONSERVATION AREA
Ethiopia
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Amharic
For over 400 years, the grasslands in the Guassa area of Menz in Ethiopia’s central
highlands were governed under a communal management system known as Qero. In
this system, elected headmen determined when and for how long local people could
harvest thatch grass and graze their livestock. Following the 1974 revolution and the
collapse of the Qero system due to agrarian reform, the Guassa area suffered from yearround
exploitation of the grasslands and subsequent degradation.
The Guassa-Menz initiative has worked since 2003 to revive the Qero system as a means
of sustainably managing the area’s valuable festuca grasses. Control of the grasslands
was transferred to the Guassa Conservation Council, and has been complemented by
modern governance elements, while community scouts have been trained in local
bylaw enforcement. These successes resulted in the legal recognition of the Guassa
Community Conserved Area in 2008.

Background and Context
The Guassa Area of Menz, located in the central highlands of Ethiopia
in Amhara National Regional State, has seen the reintroduction of an
indigenous land use system to safeguard its important biodiversity
and secure the long-term livelihoods of its human population. This
area, covering over 110 km2 at an altitude of 3200-3700m above
sea level, is an important component of the Afro-Alpine habitat
of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Highlands, the Eastern Arc Mountains
and Southern Rift, and the Albertine Rift constitute the three main
massifs of the Eastern Afromontane region, one of thirty-four global
biodiversity hotspots. The highlands are home to high levels of
species endemism and important populations of endangered and
rare species such as the Ethiopian wolf, gelada baboon and Ankober
Serin Seedeater. The region is also an important water catchment
area for the Nile and other important rivers draining into the
lowlands of Ethiopia.
An important local resource, sustainably conserved
The area’s ecosystem integrity is also vitally important for the
livelihoods of local communities, who harvest “Guassa” grass, a
subspecies of the Festuca genus of perennial tufted grasses, and
graze their livestock in the Guassa area. The grass is important as a
thatching material, being used for 98% of the houses in the area, and
is also a cash crop for poorer members of the community. The area
serves as a refuge for the entire Menz livestock herd during seasonal
droughts. The Ethiopian Highlands region is home to over 80% of
the country’s population, most of whom practice sedentary agrarian
lifestyles. High levels of vegetation loss, soil degradation, and
population growth have resulted in very low levels of agricultural
productivity, however, and human development for the region’s
population remains poor.
For over four hundred years, the Menz area’s grassland had been
sustainably conserved by a well-defined indigenous common
property resource management system known as Qero. This
institution entailed each of the two user communities in the area
– Asbo and Gera – democratically electing an elder as a headman,
called the Abba Qera. The Abba Qera was then responsible for
protecting and regulating the use of the Guassa area. This Qero
system would entail the closure of the Guassa area from any use
by the community for between three to five years. The length of
closure largely depended upon the growth and recovery of the
grass, community requirements for resources, success of the local
crop harvest and on the frequency of drought in the Guassa Area.
When the two Abba Qeras felt that the grass was ready for harvest,
they would announce the date of the opening to the community.
Closure periods were strictly enforced by the users themselves.
This system also had substantial benefits for the biodiversity of the
region, providing a healthy ecosystem that supported endemic and
endangered species.
Following the 1974 revolution, however, all rural land was nationalized
in a process of agrarian reform, leading to the end of the Qero
indigenous resource management institution. Private and communal
54

land ownership was transformed into state or public land tenure. The
area was essentially treated as an open access resource as it became
available to a wider number of communities, leading to unsustainable
overexploitation through the 1990s: livestock grazing continued yearround,
while grasses were cut until they became too short to be of
use. Attempts to reintroduce community-based management of the
area’s natural resources in tandem with the new local government
authorities were less successful, and the land area had been
substantially degraded by the late 1990s.
management plan was drawn up for the period 2007-2012, outlining
the aims of the community-managed Guassa Area of Menz, and the
initiative has successfully sought official recognition as a Community
Conserved Area (CCA). It has also hosted several international
researchers who have studied its endemic and rare species, providing
the scientific basis for conservation of Guassa grass, gelada baboons,
and the endangered Ethiopian wolf.
Reintroduction of the Qero system
By 2003, support from the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme,
the UK-based Darwin Initiative, and the Frankfurt Zoological
Society, had enabled the Guassa Committee, a body made up of
representatives from local peasant organizations, to establish the
Guassa Conservation Council, and reinstall the traditional resource
management system. This began with a three-year moratorium on
natural resource use within the Guassa area, from 2003 to 2006.
In its modern form, closure periods banning harvesting within
the conservation area are declared by the Guassa Conservation
Council. Several workshops with local village associations were
held during this initial process, during which the area was mapped,
and bylaws were drawn up governing the use of its resources. The
ecological health of the area is monitored by local villagers trained
as community scouts and community ecological monitors, while all
human incursions are punished by local courts.
The daily management of the area and supervision of community
scouts is conducted by the Guassa Conservation Council, which now
comprises five representatives from each of the nine local Kebele,
or village administration units, as well as representatives from the
Woreda (district-level) administration, judiciary, police, agricultural
office, environmental protection agency, and militia and security
offices. The nine Kebele that make up the Guassa Committee are
home to approximately 9,000 households; the average size of their
land holdings is 0.7 hectares.
In addition to securing the long term natural resource-based
livelihoods of the local population, this community management
system has created opportunities for ecotourism, currently being
developed with support from international partners. A general
“Guassa is found at the edge of the area that was deeply affected by the 1984 drought
and famine. The existence of the Guassa area has helped the survival of livestock in the
area by increasing the resilience of the community to droughts. In the last few decades
the rainfall has been erratic and unpredictable in the mountain regions of Ethiopia,
increasing the vulnerability of many rural communities. The Guassa area has supplied
a reserve source of income and animal fodder during these difficult times.”
Dr. Zelealem Tefera, Ethiopia Country Representative, Frankfurt Zoological Society
55

Key Activities and Innovations
Much of Guassa’s success in establishing community-based conservation
has been based on its use of the Qero system, and the adaptability and
resilience of this system to modern challenges. Its strength as a tool
for conservation and sustainable use is rooted in over four centuries of
tradition, and is closely tied to the histories of the nine Guassa Kebele
themselves. These villages trace the lineage of some of their members
back as far as four hundred years; the Qero system is therefore an integral
part of local cultural heritage. In its modern incarnation in Guassa, it
has been based on the innovatory use of local ecological monitoring
strategies, partnership with the district-level government authorities, and
legal recognition as one of Ethiopia’s first community conservation areas.
Monitoring and enforcement
Drawing on the successful Namibian example of local-level
monitoring as a decision-support tool, the Guassa Conservation
Council oversees twenty community scouts who have been trained
in bylaw enforcement and conflict resolution, as well as eight
community ecological monitors. These community members are
elected from the four Kebele nearest to the conserved area. Financial
support and training for these scouts and monitors has come from
the Darwin Initiative, a UK Government biodiversity financing
initiative, and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. They monitor
various indicators of the ecological health of the conservation area
including vegetation cover and animal species population numbers,
as well as illegal usage during the closed season. These community
monitors have also been able to raise awareness of the importance
of conserving the area’s Ethiopian wolf population.
Official legal recognition as a community-based organization in
2008, and acceptance by the Amhara National Regional State as
Ethiopia’s first Community Conserved Area (CCA) in 2010 were
crucial achievements for the initiative. It has made it a model for
other community-based natural resource management projects in
Ethiopia, and has brought the initiative substantial national attention.
Importantly, it has also enabled the Guassa community members
to resist various pressures on their land in the form of proposed
investments. Prior to designation as a community conserved area,
the initiative was able to successfully halt two attempts to establish
commercial sheep-farming in the Guassa area. These applications
to the regional investment office proposed creating a 150-hectare
enclosure as a commercial sheep ranch; this was opposed on the
basis that it would establish a legal precedent for private land
enclosures. Now, as a legally-designated protected area, the Guassa
communities have a certified right to their land.
Local courts are mandated to fine community members up to 1,500
Br (more than USD 100) for repeated illegal cutting of festuca grass,
or grazing livestock during the closed season. This punishment is
also accompanied by one month’s imprisonment. The area has been
closed for festuca harvesting since 2007, although allowances have
been made for short periods during droughts, when farmers are able
to herd cattle in the grassland area.
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
By regulating exploitation, the Qero system has protected the unique
and diverse fauna and flora of around 9,800 hectares of grassland.
Ecosystem monitoring, by providing information on the state of the
exceptional resource values of the Guassa area, has been identified
as a key part of the adaptive management of the area. Technical
experts have identified six key ecosystem components that support
the unique biodiversity of the Guassa Area; if all these components
are conserved, then the long-term health of the ecosystem should
remain intact. Festuca grass constitutes the largest of these six
elements, and around 30% of the total area.
Guassa is home to many of the species commonly associated with
Afro-Alpine ecosystems. These include 22 mammal species, 27%
of which are endemic to Ethiopia. The area’s flagship mammal
species is the most endangered canid in the world, the Ethiopian
wolf (Canis simensis), also known as the Simien fox. With fewer than
500 individuals remaining in the world, the Ethiopian wolf is rated
as ‘Critically Endangered’ by the IUCN Red List. The Guassa area
protects one of the major groups, with a stable population of around
35 wolves. The conservation of grassland has provided a habitat for
high numbers of rodents on which the Ethiopian wolf preys.
Other important species in the area include the gelada baboon. The
gelada is the only surviving member of a once widespread genus
Theropithecus. These baboons are the only grazing primates in the
world. Although they have been assessed as a species of ‘Least
Concern’ by IUCN, global species numbers have fallen from an
estimated 440,000 in the 1970s to around 2,000 in 2008. The Guassa
population of gelada has doubled, and is now the second highest
population in Ethiopia behind the Simien Mountain National Park.
Bird species have also benefited from the Qero system, with 114
species recorded in the area. Among these, 14 species are endemic
to Ethiopia, including the restricted-range Ankober seedeater and
Spot-breasted Plover. The Guassa area also serves as a wintering
ground for many palearctic migrant birds. A striking feature of the
birdlife in the Guassa area is the abundance of birds of prey that
feast, along with the wolves, on the area’s high rodent population.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The Guassa Area is a critical natural resource for the people of
Menz, providing ecosystem services such as fodder for animals,
fuel, building materials, farming, and household implements
for subsistence purposes. The area also provides an element of
livelihood stability through diversifying of income sources beyond
subsistence agriculture and smallholder farming. The wide variety
of local goods that are produced from Guassa grass ensure a degree
57

of independence from markets and the government, allowing selfreliance
through the availability of many goods and services locally.
These goods can also be bartered and sold in markets, supplying
cash income for poorer households.
Provisioning ecosystem services of the Guassa area
The main uses of the Guassa Area are the collection of Guassa grass
and firewood and grazing of livestock. Two varieties of the Guassa
(Festuca sp) grass are classified locally: Kuachera is used to thatch 98%
of houses in the area, while Naso is used for plaster in houses, after
being mixed with mud. Grass is also used to make ropes, household
equipment, baskets, painting brushes, mattresses and shepherds’
raincoats. Festuca grass is especially important in making mats for
use in houses, as its miniscule thorns catch fleas, preventing them
from spreading diseases.
Guassa also provides a prime grazing area for the Menz livestock
population, a key economic activity, being the largest area of
communal grazing locally. It has provided an important refuge
during recent drought periods, when farmers have been permitted to
graze their livestock within the conserved area. Fuelwood is another
key resource with Cherenfi (Europs sp), Asta (Erica arboria), Gibera,
(Lobilia sp) Ameja (Hypericum rivolutum), and Abelbila (Kniphofia) all
being collected. Collection usually takes place in the dry season; a
large volume is required due to its low calorific value. Cattle dung is
frequently burned as an alternative source of fuel.
Underpinning local wellbeing
Medicinal plants are widely collected from the Guassa area to treat
human and livestock diseases. Wild berries such as Rubes abyssinicys
and Rubes Stedneri are also collected, while thyme is used in cooking
and as a medicinal plant. Stinging nettles (Urtica slimensis) are used
to prepare a stew during the fasting season.
In addition, the Guassa area is a key water catchment area both locally
and regionally. A total of 26 rivers begin in the area, and drain into
either the Blue Nile or Awash Rivers. The mountain block provides
year-round water supplies for drought-prone settlements bordering
the region. Downstream users in the low-lying areas of Yifat, Merhabeti
and the Afar Region are dependent on this water, an ecosystem
function that is well-recognized by the Guassa community groups.
Diversifying incomes: ecotourism and micro-enterprises
The Guassa communities’ main strategy for increasing household
incomes is to develop tourism in the area, utilizing the wildlifespotting
potential of the area as an ecotourism attraction for visitors.
An eco-lodge has been constructed, and work is ongoing to develop
related activities such as guided walks, horse-riding, and handicrafts.
A tourism board has been created comprising one representative
from each Kebele. Community members have been selected
and given training to serve as tour guides and produce artisanal
handicrafts for sale to visiting tourists. Profits from the project will
be used for community development projects.
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One such project idea has been to begin a micro-finance scheme
for local women. This is a model that has proved successful in
the Amhara Region of Ethiopia: the Amhara Credit and Savings
Institution is internationally recognized as a leading microfinance
institution. Profits from ecotourism would go into a village lending
scheme that allowed women to make products from grasses and
establish forest nurseries, reducing the time spent collecting fuel.
POLICY IMPACTS
Guassa’s example has provided a model for community-based natural
resource management in Ethiopia. It has successfully overcome
land-tenure barriers to communal ownership of land, and in 2008
was recognized as a community-based organization and as the first
community conserved area in Ethiopia. This official designation is
now one of five types of protected area in Ethiopia, along with parks,
sanctuaries, reserves, and controlled hunting areas. In large part this
change in land policy is due to the work of the Guassa communities.
This aim was stated in a General Management Plan in 2007, outlining
a five-year strategy for ensuring the sustained success of the Guassa
initiative:
“The Guassa Area is under threat from a number of directions, including
development and investment initiatives, agricultural expansion and
uncontrolled grazing… To date, environmental impact assessment (EIA)
and lobbying by the local community have stopped any development in
the area. In addition, farming has expanded at the edge of the Guassa
Area, from all directions, due to human population growth, drought
frequency, rural development activities and changes in rural land use
policies at a national level. The community therefore believes there
should be a stronger legal framework for the conservation of the Guassa
Area that will provide additional protection and security to the Area
and their traditional natural resource management system from both
external and internal pressure.” (Guassa Area General Management
Plan, 2007)
This legal framework was established in 2008 and has been the
primary policy achievement of the initiative to date. Cooperation
with local government offices has been critical to the success of
community management of the Guassa area, with their boundaries
being legally demarcated and recognized in the regional parliament.
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
In terms of its financial sustainability, the Guassa initiative is not
reliant on external funding to continue its main areas of work. The
conservation of the grassland area relies on community volunteers
and the local court system, and therefore doesn’t require financial
input, although initial training was given to the community monitors
using Darwin Initiative funding.
The General Management Plan for 2007-2012 outlines three main
areas of work that are fundamental to the sustained success of the
Guassa Menz project. These are sustainable community natural
resource management, based on the Qero system of closed periods
for harvesting Festuca grass; the ecological monitoring program, using
community volunteers as local monitors; and tourism, accompanied
by an outreach programme with 21 primary and secondary schools
adjacent to the Guassa area to raise awareness of the area’s biodiversity
and the need to conserve it. The importance of this third component
is to establish a solid social foundation for the continuation of the
closure periods. Droughts, unpredictable rainfall patterns, continued
population growth, and a lack of diversified income sources will
continue to impose pressures on the Guassa grassland area; grassroots
understanding of the needs for sustainable use of natural resources
will safeguard against the reversal of the communities’ success.
The other main strategy to improve the socioeconomic wellbeing
of Guassa communities is establishing ecotourism in the area. The
construction of an eco-lodge was financed with a grant from the
Frankfurt Zoological Society. It is hoped that this will become selffunding,
providing a source of income for local people, and that the
profits can be reinvested in community development projects.
REPLICATION
The Guassa Community Conservation Area has inspired replication
efforts in two cases, in partnership with the Ethiopian Wildlife
Conservation Authority and the Frankfurt Zoological Society and using
funding from the European Union. Representatives were brought to
Guassa from the Abune Yoseph Community Conservation Area and
Denkoro National Forest Priority Area to observe the conservation
model being implemented. Peer-to-peer learning was facilitated
through these learning exchange site visits. The director of the Wildlife
Conservation Authority in Ethiopia has also requested a handbook to
be written by the Guassa Committee for use in replicating their model.
PARTNERS
• Frankfurt Zoological Society (including EU financing)
• Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program - University of Oxford
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU)
• Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority
• U.K. Darwin Initiative
• Regional and local government authorities
• Addis Ababa University
• Academics from Scandinavia, the UK, Addis Ababa and other
countries have spent time at Guassa conducting research into
local biodiversity and community conservation efforts.
60

IL NGWESI GROUP RANCH
Kenya
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Swahili
This Maasai group ranch in the central Kenyan district of Laikipia has established an
8,645-hectare community-conserved area that balances the needs of local pastoralists
with wildlife conservation and the operation of a lucrative eco-lodge. One of the
pioneering and most successful of Kenya’s Maasai-owned ecotourism initiatives, Il
Ngwesi has served as a model for replication across the country. Its sanctuary rangers
ensure a high level of security for the conserved area, which has played a key role in a
network of connected wildlife protected areas and corridors in central Kenya.
In addition to the areas of freshwater management and education, ecotourism revenues
have been invested in targeted health interventions. The group is a lead partner in a
health campaign which offers awareness-raising, testing and counseling, for HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis, the campaign has targeted thirteen local group ranches for a
combined population of 40,000 people.

Background and Context
Il Ngwesi Group Ranch consists of 8,645 hectares of communitymanaged
land located in Mukogodo Division, Laikipia District, north
of Mount Kenya. It sits next to the Ngare Ndare River, on the edge
of the Mukogodo Hills, and consists predominantly of semi-arid and
arid savannah land. The ranch is owned and managed by the local
population of almost 7,000 Laikipiak Maasai pastoralists. Key species
found in the area include the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum),
African elephant (Loxodonta africana), African wild dog (Lycaon
pictus) and Grevy’s zebra (Equus grevyi), while the area is also a
sanctuary for the critically endangered black rhino (Diceros bicornis).
The Group Ranch has been able to promote conservation and
generate income-generating opportunities for its members through
the conservation of around 80% of the ranch area, a reduction
in the Maasai’s dependence on livestock, and the promotion of
conservation-friendly ecotourism.
A context of environmental, social and economic threats
Following the end of commercial hunting in the area during the
1970s, local people used firearms purchased from Somali refugees
to poach wildlife indiscriminately. By the late 1980s, elephant
populations had been significantly reduced and rhinos had
disappeared from the area. The Il Ngwesi land remained an important
wildlife corridor between Laikipia and Samburu, but the ecosystem
was simultaneously coming under threat from deforestation, with
sections of the Mukogodo forest being cleared for timber, fuel wood,
and for agriculture. As well as contributing to widespread land
degradation, this also increased local tensions between pastoralists
and farmers. Human development indicators were low, meanwhile:
there were few schools in the area, contributing to low levels of
educational attainment, while the entire district was served by one
government-run hospital, with a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:44,000.
Over-reliance on livestock, the decline of traditional grazing
management systems, and human-wildlife conflict meant that the
Maasai tribes’ livelihoods were under threat. The poverty of the area
in turn threatened the security of Lewa Downs, a privately-owned
wildlife conservancy directly to the south of Il Ngwesi. In response,
the management team at Lewa, with support from Kenya Wildlife
Service, encouraged the formation of a community conserved area
within Il Ngwesi, and the creation of an ecotourism attraction to
generate revenue. They engaged Maasai elders and community
leaders in the process, trained local people as rangers, and overcame
initial skepticism within the communities to establish the Il Ngwesi
Group Ranch in 1995.
A community-owned conservation initiative
Lewa Conservancy has been a constant partner in Il Ngwesi’s
conservation work since 1995. The chief means through which the
group has sought to encourage sustainable land management is the
development of a community-owned ecotourism enterprise, centred
on the construction of a luxury eco-lodge and conservation of the
area’s flagship wildlife species. Il Ngwesi Lodge was opened in 1996,
and caters to the high-end Kenyan tourism market. The lodge is run
by Il Ngwesi Company Ltd. and has stimulated the development of
various other conservation-based enterprises, such as cultural bomas
(villages), artisanal handicraft production, and community-run camp
sites. The revenues generated by these initiatives are reinvested in
infrastructural projects that are prioritized by the Maasai community
at annual general meetings. To date, revenues have been used for
water infrastructure projects, schools, educational scholarships, and
extensive health outreach services.
Holistic land management is central to Il Ngwesi’s strategies for
conservation and development. Management of the group ranch
land area has involved its division into settlement and conservation
areas. The latter is further divided into a relatively small core zone,
measuring 5km2 (500 hectares) and a larger buffer zone of 6,000
hectares. Within this buffer zone, pastoralists are permitted to graze
livestock during dry periods, making it an important strategy for
reducing the impacts of droughts. Meanwhile, various infrastructural
62

projects within the ranch area help to prevent soil erosion and
maintain paths, while access to water has been improved for local
communities. The Maasai group ranch members play a participatory
role in all land-use decisions.
Governance and organizational structure
The Il Ngwesi Community Trust committee (or Natural Resource
Management committee) consists of fourteen representatives from
the seven Maasai communities. The committee meets three times
a year to hear proposals from the community representatives and
debate decisions concerning the management of the group ranch
or particular land-use regulations. The Community Trust committee
has a legal advisor to review proposals; once agreed upon, these
proposals are taken to the Group Ranch committee.
Ranch Committee and every two years for the Community Trust
Committee), so that newly acquired skills gained through training
are retained, but a reasonable turnover of personnel is ensured.
The lodge itself is run as an independent limited company with a
majority shareholding owned by the Group Ranch, and is governed
by a board made up of four community members, representatives
from Lewa and Borana conservancies, and the local Member of
Parliament. The project typically employs around 32 staff; 24 are
employed full-time, with 15 working at the lodge and nine full-time
guards, while casual workers are hired on a regular basis.
The Group Ranch committee consists wholly of Maasai community
members, although they also seek advice from government
departments and other partners in specific areas of expertise,
including issues such as land acquisition, updating the members’
register, and financial management. The Group Ranch committee
is led by a Board of Directors, comprised of six elected members of
the community and three external experts. Decisions are referred
to the Group Ranch committee for a vote, before being outlined
at an Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting to gain
the approval of the entire community. Elections are also held at
the Annual General Meetings, as well as audited accounts being
presented to the members.
To solidify this management structure, the Group Ranch developed a
constitution to establish clear decision-making and implementation
processes. This includes the objectives, duties and powers of
committees, office bearers, members, and non-member residents;
procedures for financial management, conflict resolution, and
meetings; and a description of the areas, rules and sanctions for
different activities, such as grazing, conservation, and camp sites.
The Group Ranch also has provisions for a salaried secretariat,
including a Programme Manager, responsible for carrying out
the operations of the Group Ranch. Other innovative provisions
include a commitment to retire 50% of all committee members
at each election (elections are held every five years for the Group
“Il Ngwesi has been very sensitive to the effects of climate change. Sources of income
have shifted from pastoralism to agriculture to reduce the impact of a drought as
a result of the unpredictable rain patterns. Il Ngwesi was also severely affected by
the drought of 2008-9 (75% of buffaloes died as a result), and this has influenced
the plan to make the area 100% conserved. Youth are also being targeted to use
alternative fuel sources for fires in communities, and to acquire solar panels as a
source of energy, to minimize the rate of deforestation”
James Kasoo, Il Ngwesi Group Ranch
63

Key Activities and Innovations
Il Ngwesi’s work has focused on ensuring the ecological integrity
of its conservation area while delivering tangible economic and
social gains for its Maasai members. Conservation strategies have
included employing armed rangers to maintain security within the
conservation area and enforce its prohibitions. Alternative livelihood
activities have been encouraged to decrease the Maasai’s reliance
on livestock and increase household incomes. Infrastructural
projects, alongside health and education programs, have improved
the wellbeing of the group ranch’s communities.
Conservation regulations
The by-laws established to protect the ranch’s 6,500 hectares of
conserved land include the outlawing of tree-felling, poaching or
killing of animals, and starting of fires in the conservation area. Il
Ngwesi is not fenced, so nine security personnel are employed, and
have been given training and weapons by the government’s reserve
police force to enforce these by-laws. The security personnel control
the number of local people crossing the conservation area; they
have also banned pangas (machetes), dogs, and matchboxes from
being taken into the conservation area.
From pastoralism to agriculture
Conservation has been strengthened by the purchase of land outside
the Il Ngwesi Group Ranch for agriculture: 2,000 acres were acquired
for wheat planting using USD 30,000 from the UNDP Equator Prize
2002. Community members have also been encouraged to diversify
from livestock to agricultural activities, including the irrigation of
land on the slopes of Mount Kenya. This facet of Il Ngwesi’s holistic
approach to land use is complemented by the controlled use of
conservation land for pastoral grazing, and the frequent relocation
of the rhino sanctuary to allow the regeneration of depleted grass
and bushes. Action has been taken to reduce the effects of trodden
paths in the conservation area by planting Rhodesian grasses; local
people have also been employed to build gabions along roadsides to
reduce water run-off and topsoil erosion from hillsides. Infrastructural
investments have also been made in constructing water systems,
connecting group ranch communities to rivers using pipes.
Investments in community wellbeing
This holistic approach to land use management has been
underpinned by Il Ngwesi’s extensive health and education programs.
Income generated through tourism has been used in constructing
new school classrooms, providing salaries for teachers, and creating
bursaries for children to attend both secondary and tertiary
education. In 2006, Il Ngwesi instituted an HIV/AIDS programme,
using funding from the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) in Canada,
which provides awareness, testing, counseling, and medical support
services to local communities. Training people within these villages
as counsellors and community care workers has been a key part
of this work. As of 2010, over 4,000 people had been tested both
within Il Ngwesi and outside the group ranch. Construction is also
underway on a health clinic, while mobile health services have been
delivered to communities in partnership with Lewa Conservancy.
National and international recognition
Various strategies have helped to raise Il Ngwesi’s profile both
as an ecotourism destination and as a model for community-led
conservation in Kenya and East Africa. The four-star eco-lodge has
been successfully marketed via a website maintained by Il Ngwesi
staff based in the nearby town of Nanyuki. Il Ngwesi was awarded
the British Airways Best Ecotourism Destination Award in 1997,
and also won in the Best Small Lodge category at the 2006 Global
Responsible Travel Awards. Its high profile has also been boosted
by its rhino sanctuary. The conservation area received a single black
rhino in 2002, with assistance from Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and
the approval of Kenya Wildlife Service. Ongoing conservation of this
species, along with two white rhino specimens, is testament to the
high level of security within the group ranch area. The nine armed
rangers communicate via radio, using a radio channel frequency
purchased from Kenya’s Communication Commission.
64

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Il Ngwesi was historically home to abundant populations of
several species, before poaching in the 1970s and 1980s severely
depleted wildlife numbers. Black rhinos in particular were heavily
affected, while Il Ngwesi’s importance as an elephant corridor
attracted poachers from eastern Kenya and Somalia. The land-use
system implemented by the Group Ranch since 1995, however,
has rehabilitated wildlife species numbers, and has made the reintroduction
of numbers of black rhinos a genuine possibility.
Much of the conservation work within Il Ngwesi should be seen in
the context of coordinated efforts within Laikipia District as a whole,
and in the network of community-conserved areas and private
conservancies surrounding Lewa Downs Wildlife Conservancy. This
network is now coordinated by the Northern Rangelands Trust. Il
Ngwesi is a crucial partner in these efforts, and has been a pioneer in
community conservation. Many of its successes are based on having
diversified income sources for its pastoralist communities, as well as
ensuring the security of the conservation area.
Endangered wildlife species conservation
One milestone was in 2002, when an orphaned black rhino was
relocated from Lewa Conservancy to Il Ngwesi. Such an increase
in the potential carrying capacity for black rhino in the area has
made a direct contribution to the Kenya Wildlife Service’s national
goal of improving the conservation of this species in Kenya. To
date, however, this one specimen and two white rhinos delivered at
the same time remain the only rhinos in Il Ngwesi. It is still unclear
whether Kenya Wildlife Service will increase this number; ongoing
security efforts have demonstrated that the conservancy has the
potential to protect this species.
Il Ngwesi’s efforts have also benefitted biodiversity and ecosystems
in surrounding areas. The ranch provides critical security support
to the “no-man’s land” directly north of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.
This security has significant implications for the survival of the
endangered Grevy’s zebra, which migrate between Lewa and the
government-run National Reserves of Samburu, Buffalo Springs and
Shaba.
Other species numbers are thriving. The conservation area is home
to viable populations of large herbivores such as elephants, giraffes,
impalas, gerenuks, zebras, greater kudus, waterbucks, dik-diks, and
warthogs. This reflects broader improvements in ecosystem quality;
in 2002, over twice as many tree and herbaceous plant species
were counted in the conservancy compared to outside it. Over 300
bird species are also testament to a healthier ecosystem, resulting
from decreased dependence on a pastoralist lifestyle. Additional
initiatives have included cutting back of acacia trees, oil from which
contributes to soil acidity, and planting of grasses to rehabilitate
pathways.
Research has been conducted by various institutions, including
Kenya Forest Research Institute, Kenya Wildlife Service, the University
of Nairobi, Ministry of Tourism, and private researchers such as the
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), who
have looked at the effects of ticks on wildlife and livestock numbers.
Il Ngwesi rangers also assist in monitoring efforts, dividing the
conservation area into blocks for occasional species counting.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Il Ngwesi’s community development projects are funded by
revenues from ecotourism and seek to increase the wellbeing of the
group ranch’s communities. Partnerships with international donor
organizations are also leveraged for this purpose. 40% of the net profit
from the eco-lodge is reinvested in community development, while
the remaining 60% is used to cover the lodge’s operational costs. The
lodge generates approximately nine million Kenyan Shillings (USD
86,500) gross income annually, with the net profit usually ranging
between KSh 1.5-2 million (USD 14,400 to USD 19,200.)
65

i. Job creation
The group ranch has been able to create job opportunities primarily
through the eco-lodge. The lodge employs fifteen full-time staff, with
a further nine working as conservancy rangers. Temporary positions
are created by ongoing infrastructural projects. These have included
road maintenance, water systems, and construction of schools and
health clinics.
ii. Related sustainable livelihoods
Income generation associated with ecotourism has been seen
through the development of artisanal handicraft-making by a
women’s group, while Il Ngwesi has also explored the possibility
of purchasing and marketing locally-produced honey for tourists.
In conjunction with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), the Group
Ranch has initiated a four-year programme targeting women’s
groups in craft making. The programme trains women in quality
beadwork skills and enables access to micro-credit facilities to allow
them to purchase raw materials for production. Training has also
been given in leadership and governance, business development,
and identifying markets for their products. Plans are in place to
establish a rural bank in the Il Ngwesi community with assistance
from K-Rep, a Kenyan bank. Small loans will be made available at
low interest rates (around 5%) for future business development
activities and sustainable enterprises within the community. The
sustainability of both handicrafts and honey as income sources
depends on successful marketing, however, for which Il Ngwesi is
reliant on external assistance.
iii. Benefits to livelihoods from holistic land-use
The group ranch has also been able to boost household incomes
through traditional sources. Improved land use management has
had substantial benefits for livestock and agriculture. During the
2008-9 droughts, Il Ngwesi’s livestock were able to graze within
the buffer zone portion of the conservancy area. This helped to
substantially mitigate the loss of cattle compared to other areas. The
buffer zone supplied approximately three months’ worth of grass for
the herds, with total livestock losses estimated at around 60%; the
communities bordering the conservancy experienced losses around
40%. This compared with livestock losses of up to 90% in other areas
of Kenya. The use of grass reserves in the conservancy is a local
innovation that could help to offset the effects of unpredictable
weather patterns, and is therefore a valuable strategy for communitybased
adaptation to climate change.
The group ranch has also encouraged diversification of income
through agricultural projects on the higher slopes of the group
ranch. The majority of the Maasai remain pastoralists, but most now
tend household plots for agriculture.
iv. Investments in education
One area of investment that has yielded substantial socioeconomic
benefits is education. 500,000 Kenyan Shillings (almost USD 6,000)
is allocated annually for an educational bursaries scheme, whereby
community youth members are funded to attend secondary school
and universities. This has targeted girls, aiming to reduce the rate
of early marriages in Il Ngwesi communities. The Group Ranch has
also benefitted local primary schools through the building of houses
for teachers at Sang’a Primary School, and sinking a borehole at
Enakishomi Primary School. Donor support has been sought to fund
teachers’ salaries.
v. Water systems infrastructure
In 2008, with support from Kansas City Zoo, Reid Park Zoo (both
USA) and the Northern Rangelands Trust, the Ngare Ndare pipeline
was repaired after being damaged in 2006. This has ensured a water
supply for the lodge and for livestock. This water system has been
extended to schools and communities in 20% of the group ranch
area through pipes. Communities have also benefitted from the
Sang’a water project, which was rehabilitated with the support of
the Lewa Education Trust. In total, seven water systems have been
put in place, carrying water from river sources to villages.
vi. Health facilities and outreach
Investments in health have come through the building of a health
clinic at Nadungoro, for which Il Ngwesi is in the process of seeking
approval from the government to operate. They have also worked
closely with Lewa Conservancy in a mobile health project, ensuring
that seven local communities are visited once a week by health
workers.
The greatest impact on the health of local people has come through
Il Ngwesi’s “Afya II” program, however. This project took its lead
from the USAID-led, country-wide AIDS, Population, and Health
Integrated Assistance (APHIA II) program, and in particular from
Family Health International (FHI’s) work in Rift Valley province. In
2006, in partnership with Canada’s Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA),
Il Ngwesi undertook a baseline survey to assess awareness of HIV/
AIDS issues among local communities. These results led to the
initiation of a campaign on awareness, testing, and counseling for
the disease, as well as on Malaria and Tuberculosis, through training
community volunteers and outreach events. The target population
extended beyond Il Ngwesi Group Ranch to a total of thirteen local
group ranches; to date, ten of these groups have been reached, with
a combined population of approximately 40,000.
The two group ranches initially covered by the program were Il
Ngwesi and Makurian, with 5,000 targeted for counseling and
testing, and 20,000 targeted for increasing prevention awareness
in 2007/8. In subsequent years the scope has been expanded, with
3,000 targeted for counseling and testing in both 2009 and 2010.
A University of Toronto study in 2009 is indicative of the progress
that has been made. They found that over 8,000 tests had been
conducted (including repeat tests). The incidence rate was under
5%, while those that had tested positive were receiving care.
Contraception use was more prevalent, and was cited as a result
of the success of outreach activities. Approximately 70% of those
surveyed had attended at least one HIV/AIDS awareness session;
56% had been tested in Il Ngwesi’s mobile tent; 80% had received a
home visit from a program volunteer; and over 80% had volunteered
with the project or knew someone who had.
66

POLICY IMPACTS
Il Ngwesi has had an impact on Kenya’s wildlife policies through
its association with Lewa Conservancy, the Northern Rangelands
Trust, and its partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service (the owner
and founder of Lewa’s private conservancy, who was instrumental
in encouraging community conservation in Il Ngwesi, served on the
board of KWS from 2008-2011.) This relationship initially led to Il
Ngwesi being granted its black rhino in 2002. The significance of this
should not be understated: KWS policy had been that communal
conservancies could not be given endangered rhino specimens due
to security concerns. After an assessment of Il Ngwesi, however, it
was deemed a sufficiently safe environment. Il Ngwesi can be seen
as a test case for community conservation, therefore.
Since 2002, however, the group ranch has not been awarded a second
individual, as KWS remain unconvinced of the ranch’s security. The
Rhino Sanctuary’s sole inhabitant is now an eight year-old male,
but has not been given a mate. Il Ngwesi maintain that their armed
rangers guarantee a sufficient level of security. This has caused
frustration on the part of Il Ngwesi’s wardens, with bureaucracy and
policy changes also cited as a reason for the ongoing situation.
Despite this, Il Ngwesi is undoubtedly regarded as a model for
community-based conservation and tourism within Kenya, and
has been influential in advising replication efforts. In particular, its
governance structure and method of benefits distribution have
informed other community conservancies in Kenya and Tanzania.
“Policy decisions should consider the negative and positive impacts for communities. Policy
details must be defined and communities must be educated on their effects. Government donors
should know that communities do not always benefit as they would hope from donations –
improved monitoring of their impacts and better systems of governance are needed”
James Kasoo, Il Ngwesi Group Ranch
67

Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
The Group Ranch is financially sustainable, with average annual
revenues from the eco-lodge of around USD 86,500. This adequately
covers the lodge’s operational costs, while 40% is invested in community
development projects. The lodge has operated without external
funding since 2004. In addition to lodge revenue, a conservation fee
is also payable for entry into the area, at USD 40 per person, per day,
while groups of visitors pay USD 300 per night to stay in the lodge’s
campsites. Associated ecotourism attractions also generate revenue
for the Group Ranch. The cultural boma (a traditional Maasai village)
promotes indigenous traditions and Maasai culture. Tourists can visit
the village without staying at the lodge, with profits going directly to
the villagers themselves itself. Hiring out conservancy vehicles provides
an additional source of revenue, while women’s groups have
developed artisanal handicraft-making to capitalize on ecotourism.
Strategic partnerships and investments
External funding is sought where Il Ngwesi’s own revenues cannot
cover its community development projects. International partners
have also contributed in the form of technical assistance, for instance
in Il Ngwesi’s health and enterprise development schemes. FHI and
ICA have played key roles in the “Afya II” program, which is wholly
funded by external sources, while VSO volunteers have given training
and marketing advice to the women producing artisanal handicrafts.
Teachers’ salaries are paid by Il Ngwesi, the government, and specific
donors. On the other hand, the maintenance of water systems and
security in the conservancy are funded wholly by Il Ngwesi.
A strategy to enhance the long-term financial autonomy of the
Group Ranch is the purchase of land to build residential property in
the local town of Timau, which will then be leased to generate extra
income. This decision was taken by the Group Ranch Committee
with the acquiescence of the Il Ngwesi Community Trust. Profits
from the eco-lodge that would otherwise have been paid out to the
Maasai community member shareholders in the form of dividends
were instead used to purchase the land plot. A finance committee
has been appointed to come up with quotations and seek external
funding for the construction.
Social and ecological sustainability
Community participation through Il Ngwesi’s governance structure
is fundamental to its long-term sustainability. By giving the group
ranch inhabitants a voice and a vote, the initiative has ensured a
strong degree of local ownership. Its tangible socioeconomic impacts
have also gained it the support of the community. This support is
not assured, however, and external land acquisitions have also been
used to ease pressures within the conservation area. Population
growth and unpredictable weather patterns have increased tensions
over land use for wildlife conservation versus livestock grazing. The
Group Ranch Committee has therefore proposed relocating the various
communities to external sites. 100% of the group ranch would
then be used for conservation, although there are fears that this
could lead to the land being managed by Kenya Wildlife Service as a
government-run conservancy.
The long-term ecological sustainability within the Laikipia District is
aided by Il Ngwesi’s relationship with neighbouring conservancies
through the Northern Rangelands Trust. If the Maasai populations
are resettled elsewhere in the next five years, the conservancy will
be utilized entirely for wildlife management. Wildlife species will be
translocated from Lewa Wildlife Conservancy to boost existing wildlife
populations in Il Ngwesi. Increasing the black rhino conservation
potential of Il Ngwesi is also a major focus of the future, while discussions
are being held with Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, Lekurruki
Group Ranch, and Borana Ranch to establish a large combined
conservation area between the four properties.
68

Challenges to Il Ngwesi’s sustainability
Competition with other ecotourism ventures: marketing of Il Ngwesi
will be crucial to this, as will further improving the road infrastructure.
Reaching Il Ngwesi from the main road from Isiolo is currently a
challenge in bad weather.
Climate change: rain patterns have changed considerably in recent
years, and impose hardship on pastoralists that in turn increases
human pressures on the conservation area.
Ownership of newly-acquired land: questions exist over the
ownership structure for any potential expanded conservation areas
and residential plots.
Security: further strengthening security operations within the conservancy
could be key to Il Ngwesi receiving more black rhino individuals or other
at-risk species, which in turn would improve its ecotourism potential.
REPLICATION
Il Ngwesi has been used as a model for community conserved areas in
Kenya, as well as in Tanzania, Uganda and Southern Sudan. Exchange
visits have been hosted at Il Ngwesi, while elders from Il Ngwesi
have also been invited by Kenya Wildlife Service to share lessons on
governance processes with other communities. Much of the replication
of Il Ngwesi’s model has taken place locally, such as the establishment
and development of Naibunga Conservancy, which covers over 17,000
hectares, while Shompole Community Trust, from near Magadi in
southern Kenya, has also replicated Il Ngwesi’s eco-lodge model.
PARTNERS
• Lewa Wildlife Conservancy
• Northern Rangelands Trust
• Laikipia Wildlife Forum
• Africa Wildlife Foundation
• Kenya Wildlife Service
• University of Nairobi
• Kenya Forestry Research Institute
• Voluntary Service Overseas (two full-time volunteers for
next two years to cover range of activities)
• Borana Ranch
• Family Health International
“Biodiversity concerns everyone; it is the responsibility of everyone to take care of their
ecosystems. Everyone must contribute”
James Kasoo, Il Ngwesi Group Ranch
69

ITOH COMMUNITY
GRAZIERS COMMON
INITIATIVE GROUP
Cameroon
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l French
Through participatory planning and mapping exercises, the agro-pastoralist Itoh
community conserves land around the Kilum mountain forest for grazing and agriculture.
This forest fragment had previously been under threat from encroachment for timber
harvesting and clearing for agriculture. It is the largest remnant of montane forest in the
Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon’s Northwest Province. These forests support a high
diversity of unique flora and fauna, including two endemic bird species, and provide a
range of ecosystem services for the mountain’s local population.
Activities have focused on an area reserved for grazing, around which the community’s
two ethnic groups have collectively planted 30,000 trees to demarcate boundaries,
protect local water sources, and provide fodder for livestock. Some of these multipurpose
tree species have had medicinal and ethno-veterinary uses, reviving traditional
approaches to treating human and animal ailments.

Background and Context
The Kilum mountain forest is the largest remnant of montane forest
in the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon’s Northwest Region. It
supports a high diversity of flora and fauna, including two endemic
bird species, and provides a range of ecosystem services for the local
population. The forest forms a critical watershed for the 100,000
people who farm the mountain’s slopes, acts as a natural defence
against soil erosion, and provides a wealth of forest products
including fuelwood, building and thatching materials, medicines,
and honey. The mountain slopes also provide land for farming and
livestock-rearing, activities that for decades have sustained the local
communities of the village of Oku. Increasing competition for land
between tribal groups, however, has heightened pressure on the
mountain forest’s borders. Overexploitation of its resources and
increasing deforestation led to increased protection efforts during
the late 1980s and 1990s.
Communal grazing areas
With restrictions on the use of resources available to the communities
bordering the forest reserve, the Kilum Mountain Cooperative Union
was created in 1992 to mobilize the population of Oku to explore
sustainable options for balancing crop farming and the rearing of
goats and cattle. This cooperative comprises six settlements spread
around the forest reserve, each possessing a communal grazing area
that has been demarcated by government and traditional authorities
to serve as an alternative grazing pasture for livestock.
Conflict resolution in Itoh
One of these six communities, Itoh, is made up of 60 members
belonging to two ethnic groups. The Itoh communal grazing
area covers about 140 hectares of land between the rivers Ntio
and Mih, which emanate from the Kilum mountain forest. The
community grazing area is used by both the native community –
predominantly agrarian households living around the communal
grazing area in surrounding villages – and the Mbororo, who settled
in the community grazing area over 30 years ago and are mostly
pastoralists. This has occasionally led to confrontations between the
two groups as a result of destruction of crops by cattle belonging to
the Mbororo, or encroachment on grazing land by farmers in search
of additional land for cultivation.
The Itoh community was the setting for a creative initiative that
sought to reduce this conflict and alleviate the livelihood constraints
imposed by the ban on land use within the forest reserve. Central to
this was improving the efficiency of the use of the limited resources
available in the grazing area and in the surrounding villages through
the integration of crops and livestock, maximising the productivity
of both livelihood activities.
Prunus africana, an Afromontane tree species used by Fulani herders for its
medicinal properties, among other uses. Photo: Charles Rakotovao
Rotational grazing and ‘living fences’
With assistance from national and international partners, the group
established a ‘living fence’ around its communal grazing area,
improved the diet of livestock by planting high-nutrition grasses,
and adopted a rotational grazing system to allow the recovery of the
pasture area. Initiative members also planted some 30,000 trees in
and around the site. These trees have served various purposes for the
Itoh community: they have medicinal properties, have served as sites
for bee hives, and provide vegetative cover for a water catchment
area. A central feature of the initiative was the establishment of a
permanent water source for livestock. The decision to install a
separate water source for access by the village, providing the first
clean water supply to the school, health centre and market, proved
to be a crucial side-benefit that convinced community members to
support the initiative.
In general, strategies for improved resource management have
raised livestock-related income by increasing the amount of
available livestock forage, improved protection of adjacent forest
and watershed areas, and greatly reduced conflicts between
pastoralists and farmers.
72

Key Activities and Innovations
The project involved a variety of national and international experts
who advised community members on improved practices, focussing
on maximising effective land-use in and around the common grazing
area. Researchers from the Institute of Agricultural Research for
Development (IRAD), a Cameroon state research organization under
the authority of the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation,
advised on modern livestock production, tree nursery techniques,
fence construction, pasture improvement, and the management
and use of medicinal plants in the treatment of livestock diseases.
The ‘living fence’ was planted to prevent livestock from straying onto
neighbouring farms and to guard against agricultural encroachment
on grazing pasture. The grazing land was subsequently divided into
paddocks for cattle, goats and sheep, to enable animal grazing in
rotation. Improved forage species were also introduced along with
livestock production infrastructure (including a cattle dip) while
water supply systems were constructed for use by human and
livestock populations.
Making the most of medicinal plants
Among the multi-purpose tree species planted were the Afromontane
hardwood pygeum (Prunus africana). This multi-faceted species is
traditionally used in north-west Cameroon as fuel wood, charcoal, for
poles, hoe and axe handles, in honey production, protecting water
catchments, for marking boundaries, and especially for its medicinal
properties for both humans and animals. It can be powdered into a
tea for genito-urinary issues, allergies, inflammation, kidney disease,
malaria, stomach ache, fever, chest pain, and heart burn. It also has
value on international medicinal markets, and its harvest is carefully
regulated within Cameroon. Its bark can be locally harvested and
sold in small quantities, however, providing farming households with
an additional source of potential revenue. Other tree species planted
included calliandra, erythrina, gmelina, acacia, and leucaena.
Capacity building in veterinary medicine & disease control
International partners to the project provided further training and
capacity building. Staff from the United Nations Development
Programme/Africa 2000 Network in Cameroon supervised project
activities and gave trainings in group and farm management. This
institution was also responsible for identifying and coordinating
external expertise that contributed to the project, included training
in ethnoveterinary medicinal practices. These practices have proven
immensely successful in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, where
Fulani herders manage more than 400,000 head of cattle. In recent
decades, the evolution of the Fulani from nomadic to semi-nomadic
and transhumant livestock owners has created significant challenges
for controlling outbreaks of livestock diseases. The introduction of
orthodox veterinary medicine during the 1940s failed to reach some
remote areas, while causing knowledge of ethnoveterinary practices
to be lost. Since the late 1980s, Heifer International/Cameroon
Ethnovet Project has helped to reintroduce many of these practices,
including the use of medicinal plants to treat livestock.
These activities yielded remarkable results. Among the most
significant impacts was a reduction in the destruction of farms
by cattle and the encroachment of crop farmers onto grazing
land by almost 100 per cent. Other short-term gains included an
improvement in cattle feeding through the use of improved forage
species (such as Brachiaria grasses, Stylosanthes, and Tripsacum laxum,
or Guatemala grass) and pastures; a reduction in land degradation
and overgrazing through rotational grazing methods; the provision
of potable water to the livestock and human populations in and
around the grazing area, reducing the transmission of water-borne
diseases from livestock to humans; the protection of the watershed
within a 150-metre radius of the forest; the reduction of tick-borne
diseases among livestock populations; and an improvement in the
social relations between the two ethnic groups, who have been
brought together in common cause.
Mbingo Ridge, Bamenda Highlands. Photo: www.africanadvance.org
73

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
The 140-ha Itoh grazing area was previously devoid of trees. Planting
over 30,000 multi-purpose trees changed the biophysical appearance
of the land, creating a wooded ecosystem. The trees provide shade
to livestock, and serve as medicinal plants and fodder. The tree belt
planted within a 150-metre radius of the water catchment area has
substantially improved protection of the watershed. Community
members have also witnessed an increase in the number of bee hives
in the area, thanks to the planting of trees like calliandra, leucaena
and acacia. Strategies introduced for improved land management
have also been replicated in neighbouring communities, and by Itoh
group members in their own households.
Improvements in the pasture options for local herders have in turn
reduced pressures on the Kilum forest reserve, allowing regeneration
of wooded land. The conservation of Cameroon’s montane forest
is of global importance as it constitutes one of over 40 endemic
bird areas in Africa identified in 2002 by Birdlife International, and
represents the last hope for survival of several species unique to the
ecosystem. These include the endemic Bannerman’s Turaco (Tauraco
Bannermanni) and Banded Wattle-Eye (Platysteira Laticincta).
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The initiative has generated a variety of sources of income for its
beneficiary community, diversifying the livelihoods of households
that were previously over-reliant on agriculture or pastoralism for
subsistence. For instance, the sale of forage seeds from calliandra
trees planted by the initiative provides the community with an
average annual income of USD 500. Some of the trees used for fence
construction and paddock subdivision are medicinal, providing a
reserve source of income for community members. The trees also
serve as forage for livestock in the dry season when most of the
vegetation is dry and feed resources are scarce, while flowering
tree stands planted in the grazing area have allowed farmers to
supplement pastoralism incomes with the sale of honey, making
this a more viable livelihood activity by bringing bee hives closer to
farming households.
The group has been able to increase their stock of cattle and goat
with the savings from the judicious management of project resources
provided by donors. The beneficiary group harvests an average of 20
litres of milk from their cattle herds, which is shared among them
for household consumption. Annually, an average of three cattle
and five goats are culled and sold, with the income shared equally
among the community members to pay for children’s education.
The supply of clean drinking water has reduced water-borne diseases,
while medicinal plants harvested from tree bark treat both livestock
and human diseases. The improved availability of water has also had
the benefit of demonstrating the value of ecosystem conservation to
local residents, enabling savings in medical expenses and healthier
households.
Empowerment of women
The project’s gender dimension is reflected by the membership of the
group. One third of group members are female – these women take
part in all project activities. Improved water availability and reduced
distances for forage collection have particularly benefitted local
women. In a pioneering initiative promoted by the project, women
are also beginning to be empowered to inherit livestock, despite
local customs that traditionally dictated that livestock pass to male
family members. In addition, women members have benefitted from
training in all aspects of the project, including modern cattle-rearing
techniques, tree nurseries and tree planting, ox farming, pasture
improvement, and capacity-building project management skills.
POLICY IMPACTS
In its range of benefits for local people, the Itoh initiative has served
as a model for conflict resolution and sustainable land management
for pastoralism within the Northwest Province of Cameroon. This
has long been a challenge for government authorities and NGOs
working for sustainable development in the region, who have often
been helpless to prevent the rapid deterioration of pasture areas due
to overgrazing by growing cattle populations and overexploitation
by expanding human settlements.
The Itoh community has demonstrated that through the pursuit
of a common vision, conflicts can be overcome by shared work for
mutual benefits. In the case of this initiative, water turned out to be
the key resource that brought peaceful co-existence between social
groups within the community.
The effort to protect the water source located within the grazing reserve
against encroaching farmland has changed the perception of the farmers
themselves who, at the outset of the project, perceived the livestock
grazing land and the project as a threat to their own survival. The supply
of PVC pipes to the community by the mayor of the Oku Rural Council
to extend the water supply from the project area to surrounding social
structures – including primary schools, a health centre, and the village
market – has helped the community to understand the importance of
resource management and conservation.
In return, the project has received the support of traditional village
authorities, who have promised to impose sanctions on those
members of the community who do not respect the protective
measures put in place in the grazing area, and specifically in the
water catchment area. Meanwhile the village population has
continued planting trees to protect the water source and reinforce
fencing around the grazing land, indicating a high level of local
support for the initiative.
74

Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
Capacity building and personal empowerment
Targeted capacity building of the beneficiary population by the
project’s national and international advisors has allowed the
beneficiaries to master the various techniques necessary to sustain
the initiative. Evidence of this can be seen in the implementation of
acquired techniques and strategies in the households of individual
group members. Training in ‘group dynamics’ has focussed on
good governance, participatory approaches to local development,
and the transparent management of resources. The resulting high
level of accountability and transparency has helped to strengthen
beneficiaries’ individual commitment to the initiative. Group members
hold regular meeting to assess their activities and elaborate new work
plans and strategies.
Social participation and the strengthening of social bonds
The initiative has led to the development of new social bonds within
the community, uniting two previously antagonistic social groups in
common interest. This prioritising of building the social fabric has
also illustrated the crucial importance of achieving high levels of
local ownership of community development initiatives.
Environmental and economic sustainability
Through the ongoing afforestation process, the initiative contributes
to the ecological sustainability of the Kilum Mountain forest reserve
and reduces degradation of the environment, while providing
substantial and sustainable sources of income for its beneficiaries.
The demonstration of the linkages between these benefits has been
fundamental to the sustainability of both.
PARTNERS
The initiative has been able to successfully mobilize a diverse
range of technical, financial, and material contributions from
its participating institutions, demonstrating the importance of
diversifying partnerships for delivering in different areas of expertise
and comparative advantage.
• The European Union: The EU provided USD 45,000 for the key
project activities of the Itoh initiative. These funds were used to
purchase materials and equipment such as barbed wire for fence
construction and farming tools, as well as paying for specialized
labor for capacity building trainings.
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/Africa 2000
Network - Cameroon: This national network of development
professionals supervised project activities and provided
technical assistance through capacity building of the beneficiary
population in project management and group dynamics. This
institution was also responsible for recruiting necessary external
expertise to strengthen the capacity of the beneficiaries in
various technical aspects of the project, coordinating a portfolio
of financial and technical assistance.
• Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD):
This Cameroon-based institute supplied technical assistance
in modern livestock production techniques, tree nursery
techniques, fence construction, pasture improvement and the
management and use of medicinal plants in the treatment of
livestock diseases. Thanks to the training provided by these
experts, group members are currently able to implement these
practices without external assistance.
• The Ministry of Livestock: Staff from the zoological, technical and
veterinary centre have assisted the group in controlling livestock
diseases and have provided training in basic veterinary care.
75

Bannerman’s Turaco (Tauraco Bannermanni), endemic to the Bamenda Highlands. Photo: Roger Fotso/BirdLife
76

MAASAI WILDERNESS
CONSERVATION TRUST
Kenya
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Swahili
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust preserves the wilderness, wildlife and cultural
heritage of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem – an important migration corridor between
two national parks. The organization of Maasai communities has mitigated unsustainable
practices such as overgrazing and water-intensive farming and introduced alternative
livelihood options, including ecotourism. The community benefits from lease payments
for conservancy zones, watershed protection, and the provision of ecotourism services.
Ecotourism revenue funds community health and education programmes, including
scholarships, teacher salaries and clean water.
An innovative programme called ‘Wildlife Pays’ compensates Maasai herders on a
quarterly basis for losses due to wildlife predation in exchange for their participation in
conservation activities. An innovative partnership model with the Kenya Wildlife Service
has allowed for both local livelihood improvements and extensive wildlife monitoring
to improve the protection of threatened species.

Background and Context
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (MWCT) was established
in 2000 by the Maasai of Kuku Group Ranch as a grassroots
conservation trust. The trust focuses on the Maasai landscape and
the communities of Kenya’s Chyulu Hills, which are set within the
Amboseli-Tsavo region of southern Kenya. The region is located in
one of East Africa’s most iconic landscapes, an area that includes
Mount Kilimanjaro and Tsavo East and Tsavo West National Parks,
which together form the largest National Park in Kenya.
The Greater Tsavo and Amboseli Ecosystems
The Kuku Group Ranch forms an important wildlife corridor linking
two of Kenya’s most ecologically significant and biologically diverse
areas: the Greater Tsavo and Amboseli ecosystems. The Maasai
communities of this area own all of the land between the protected
Amboseli and Tsavo West National Parks, and within their 280,000
acres of land lie important migration corridors and habitat reserves
that serve as wildlife dispersal areas and support a significant
amount of the region’s rich biodiversity. The region also includes rich
cloud forests, which, in addition to serving as carbon sinks, provide
habitat for a number of rare and threatened species, including
sizable elephant populations. The health and integrity of these forest
ecosystems are closely linked to the wellbeing of local residents: the
rivers and springs that flow from the forest provide freshwater to
more than seven million people in Kenya, including the inhabitants
of the second largest city, Mombasa.
Much of the region is classified as arid and semi-arid land, making it
prone to soil erosion and degradation. The vulnerability of land and
soil is heightened by growing pressure from livestock grazing and
the conversion of land for agriculture. The region is also increasingly
prone to climate variability, including more frequent and prolonged
periods of drought. In addition to growing rates of wildlife and
livestock mortality, which translate to significant economic losses
for Maasai communities, these conditions have led to a destructive
shift towards unsustainable land-use practices such as intensive
agriculture that are not compatible with local conditions and lead to
ever-greater land degradation.
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust
Although MWCT was not formally established until 2000, its story
begins in 1996, when Italian conservationist Mr. Luca Belpietro
and his wife Ms. Antonella Bonomi formed a partnership with the
Maasai community of Kuku Group Ranch. The partnership was
based around construction of an eco-lodge on Kuku Group Ranch
land, with a view to creating a tourism revenue stream that would
benefit the local community. The eco-lodge, Campi ya Kanzi, was
completed in 1998 and opened for business the same year. Campi
ya Kanzi was initially operated by Mr. Belpietro and his wife, but with
the Maasai community maintaining legal ownership of the property
and receiving a share of lodge revenues. An agreement was put in
place that all lodge employees would be sourced from within the
community. Four years later, in 2002, it became apparent that the
positive impacts of the eco-lodge were not sufficient to benefit the
entire community; in response, the lodge began to impose a USD
100 per night ‘conservation surcharge’ which was used to raise funds
to support the fledgling Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.
The trust operates as a non-profit entity focused on the initiation
and development of conservation, education and healthcare
programs throughout the local Maasai communities. The trust
aims to conserve the wildlife and cultural heritage of the region by
focusing on initiatives that create sustainable economic benefits for
the Maasai community, providing them with an alternative income
source to intensive agriculture. Currently, the trust is exploring new
and additional options for financing ongoing conservation efforts
in an attempt to reduce reliance on philanthropic funding, which to
date has supported much of the work of the trust.
78

The organization has developed a number of innovative approaches
to address persistent challenges that confront local Maasai,
including land degradation and human-wildlife conflict. Among
the notable innovations advanced by the trust are lease payments
for conservancy zones, payments for watershed protection,
sustainable ecotourism, wildlife monitoring and conservation,
and the development of alternative employment options. All
activities endeavour to strengthen the Maasai’s cultural heritage
and traditional way of life while also expanding healthcare and
educational services to the local community.
Governance and institutional structure
An innovative governance arrangement and strategic partnerships
have been central to the stability of the trust since its creation in
2000. MWCT is governed by a 13-member Board of Trustees, which
includes ten Kenyans, including representatives of the local Maasai
community, and three international members (from Italy, Spain
and USA respectively). Members of the Board are appointed by the
Trustees: Mr. Luca Belpietro, Ms. Antonella Bonomi and Mr. Samson
Parashina, a Maasai from the Kuku Group Ranch community. The
Board of Trustees plays an advisory role and guides the Trustees
in setting goals and coming up with strategies to achieve them. A
Development Committee, appointed by the community, consists
of six Maasai men and four Maasai women. The Development
Committee advises the Board on the most pressing needs of the
community. Another Advisory Board is comprised of six communityelected
officials along with the Trust’s President.
The trust also has a US-based ‘partner’ affiliate, Maasai Wilderness
Conservation Fund (MWCF), which is a registered 501c3 non-profit,
tax-exempt organization. MWCF has its own Board, which consists
of heads of foundations that support MWCT, academics, and heads
of other NGOs. The MWCF Board raises funds from US donors which
it grants to MWCT based on jointly approved budgets. MWCT and
MWCF share an Advisory Group made up of close collaborators and
leading thinkers in the field.
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Key Activities and Innovations
Community-based ecotourism
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust has assisted the Kuku
Group Ranch to secure an advantageous agreement with its
ecotourism partner, Campi ya Kanzi. The conservation surcharge
(USD 100) applied at the eco-lodge is one of the highest in Kenya.
The employment agreement reached with the eco-lodge is also
beneficial to the Maasai population, with 95 per cent of lodge staff
sourced from the local community. Campi ya Kanzi has grown into
a model for the development of low-impact tourism infrastructure,
using only solar energy to fulfil its electricity and hot water needs,
managing waste sustainably, and recycling all black and grey water.
It is the only lodge of its kind that is self-sufficient in its water use,
using harvested rainwater rather than drawing on community water
sources, thereby avoiding putting unnecessary pressure on scarce
resources in this dry environment. Revenues to the community have
been substantial, currently approaching USD 400,000 per year. This
revenue is directed towards activities that conserve the wildlife of
the region and improve the livelihoods of the local population. The
trust organizes these activities into three programs: conservation,
education and healthcare.
Wildlife conservation
The trust supports a number of conservation activities and
maintains a conservation department that employs more than 100
local Maasai people. Conservation activities are divided into four
main areas: the conservancy program, the ‘Wildlife Pays’ program,
predator monitoring, and community wildlife rangers. In support of
these and other efforts, the trust has also constructed the Chyulu
Conservation and Research Centre, where it undertakes knowledge
management, research and information exchange activities. Another
activity, currently in the exploratory phase, is the development of
payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes around forest and
water conservation.
The conservancy program: MWCT has developed a model for a
network of land conservancy zones that aims to maintain ecosystem
services on community-owned lands between the two national
parks. This will entail the protection of standing forest, grassland,
and wetlands, among other key landscape features, which entails
local landholders foregoing the use of the land for livestock. The
cornerstone of the trust approach is the negotiation of lease
payments for conservancy zones. To date, the group has negotiated
and secured two such management deals to protect a grassland
habitat reserve and a critical wetland, totalling 12,000 acres, both
of which lie within the migration corridor between the two national
parks. These deals allow the community to be compensated for
their stewardship of the local ecosystem, funding the creation of
alternative livelihood options, which has been important in a cattledependent
local economy that increasingly suffers from the impacts
of prolonged droughts.
The trust is seeking to further develop its conservation program with
the intention of protecting 150,000 acres of land that would, in turn,
secure meaningful, sustainable revenue for the community. As a
complementary activity, the trust also works with community grazing
committees to address the negative impacts of the Maasai livestock
on the local environment. Specifically, the group has focused on
improving grazing practices to protect grasslands, creating buffer
zones around key water sources, and working to improve the overall
resilience of rangelands. Training and capacity building for local
leaders has been prioritized as a way of empowering the Maasai
community to maintain local traditions but also to modify their
activities in manner that will allow them to thrive in the long term.
Wildlife Pays: The tourism surcharge levied on visitors to the area
funds an innovative compensation program for Maasai herders called
‘Wildlife Pays.’ The program financially compensates herders who lose
livestock to wildlife predation in exchange for their full participation
in wildlife protection activities. The program was started as a way of
reducing retribution killing of wildlife and of bringing herders more
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fully into the fold of conservation efforts. Herders receive quarterly
payments for the value of any livestock losses. In addition to financing
other actions that help to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts – such as
the construction of lion-proof livestock enclosures – the Wildlife Pays
program is working to generate a more positive attitude among the
Maasai towards wildlife conservation. The compensation fund is a
valued acknowledgement of the Maasai dependence on livestock
for their livelihoods, and of the trade-offs that must be taken into
consideration when balancing wildlife conservation with pastoralist
livelihoods. The program is self-sufficient and does not rely on
philanthropic funding. Surcharges levied on tourists visiting the area
to see wildlife more than cover the annual costs of compensation,
establishing a pioneering and sustainable new PES model around
the protection of wildlife.
Predator monitoring and community wildlife rangers: A third dimension
of the conservation program involves predator monitoring and the
use of community wildlife rangers. Over 100 Maasai community
members are employed by the trust as game guards and predator
monitors, making MWCT one of the largest employers of community
rangers in the region after the national Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
The comprehensive program – carried out in partnership with KWS
– aims to prevent illegal activities (and in particular poaching), to
minimize human-wildlife conflict, and to monitor biodiversity in
the region. A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was
recently signed with the KWS supporting trust wildlife security
operations and formal training of MWCT scouts. This has enabled the
trust to work in much closer cooperation with national authorities.
The objectives of the monitoring and wildlife ranger programs are
to increase communities’ capacity to monitor and protect wildlife
throughout their lands, to monitor and maintain conservancy zones
in accordance with management agreements, and to improve the
data available to assess the impact of resource management choices
on species populations.
Payment for ecosystem services
In recent years, MWCT has worked to develop additional revenue
streams for the Maasai community through innovative PES schemes.
The trust has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
with the Kuku community to act and negotiate on their behalf in
exploring these options. One of the first steps will be to assess the
potential economic value of carbon and watershed services resulting
from forests on community land. MWCT has secured funding from
Conservation International and the JP Morgan Fund for an initial
assessment of the carbon assets in the Kuku and Rombo Group
Ranches, and has brokered a formal partnership between both these
communities and Wildlife Works – a private sector carbon project
designer and implementer that has brokered the only two revenue
generating, verified carbon credit trading projects in Kenya. It is
hoped that a carbon-based payment for ecosystem services scheme
would further bolster community conservation efforts and provide
an additional incentive for safeguarding local ecosystems.
Health and education programs
The trust has been able to advance a broad vision for linking
ecosystem health with community social and economic well-being.
Notably, the conservation focus is complemented by healthcare
and education programming. Within its education program, the
trust supports 20 local primary schools and one secondary school,
serving a total of 7,000 students. The trust operates these schools in
partnership with the Kenyan government, which provides support in
the form of schoolhouse construction, employment of teachers, and
the provision of stationery. More than fifty educators are employed
by the trust to teach in its schools, making it the largest employer of
teachers working on the ranch. MWCT also funds and operates Kanzi
Academy, a school for talented students in the region. The academy
has so far funded 34 secondary and post-secondary scholarships for
Maasai students, of which 15 are still ongoing at various educational
levels.
Similarly, the trust health program operates four local dispensaries
in partnership with the Kenyan government, reaching about 8,000
people. It also funds outreach services – in the form of out-patient
care – to isolated regions that lack access to medical facilities. A
new laboratory was recently built to support early diagnosis of local
health problems. MWCT was also recently awarded a three-year
grant by the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation, which has
been used to employ a Health Program Director with responsibility
for coordinating all strategic planning, government relations,
measurement of clinical program data, and sourcing of grants for
the health program.
“Our overall goal is to develop better practices in monitoring of wildlife species, in
order to create a protected environment in which wildlife, the integrity of the land,
and people can flourish together.”
Mr. Samson Parashina, President, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
The trust’s activities have had a positive impact on ecosystem
integrity and wildlife diversity and abundance in the region. The
12,000 acres within conservancies established on Maasai lands have
helped to mitigate unsustainable practices such as over-grazing and
water-intensive farming, which has, in turn, improved ecosystem
resilience and bolstered the prospects for long-term environmental
health. Importantly, the wildlife migration corridors between
Amboseli and Tsavo have been fortified and protected.
Reduced human-wildlife conflict
As a result of the Wildlife Pays program, predator mortality rates
have declined dramatically in recent years. In 2005, two years
before the program was implemented, the number of lions killed
on Kuku Group Ranch alone averaged 9-10 a year. Since Wildlife
Pays was introduced, a total of five lions have been killed by Maasai
herdsmen. This positive trend is directly linked to the innovative
MWCT program, which compensates herders for livestock lost to
wild predators. By creating an incentive to engage in conservation
efforts and abandon retribution killings, the trust has been able to
effectively protect a number of charismatic predator species.
Going beyond avoided human-wildlife conflict, MWCT has instigated
a partnership with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to
develop standardized species monitoring protocols in conjunction
with Tsavo National Park research teams, a relationship that will
facilitate ecosystem-wide data-sharing and build understanding of
long-term trends in the abundance and distribution of key species.
The partnership was also pursued as a means of strengthening
the MWCT conservation program; that is, backing up anecdotal,
qualitative successes with solid scientific data on the impacts of
different conservation activities. Conversely, data collection and
wildlife monitoring undertaken by MWCT also benefits ZSL and KWS,
who are charged with species monitoring in Tsavo National Park.
Measuring ecosystem services
The organization is in the process of evaluating the value of carbon
and watershed services provided by the community land. It is hoped
that this will allow the community to develop a payment for ecosystem
services scheme which will in turn create a new revenue stream to
finance conservation efforts and the stewardship of local ecosystems.
MWCT is also completing a feasibility study for the development of a
reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD)
project, which would provide protection of the region’s threatened
cloud forests, as well as other forest areas on the Kuku Group Ranch.
Preserving culture and nature
Perhaps most importantly, the combined work of MWCT in
environmental conservation and sustainable livelihoods is allowing
the Maasai to maintain their traditions and culture, in which a
balance and harmony with local wildlife plays an important part. In
the absence of the conservation and development programming
advanced by MWCT, the Maasai, out of economic necessity, would
likely be forced to farm the land, transforming their culture and their
landscape. This has been a trend in other Maasai group ranches in
the region, which has had devastating consequences for the local
environment; farming in such arid conditions often results in negative
impacts on wildlife, water systems and soil quality. Crop failure in
particularly dry years is also quite common. The preservation of the
pastoralist lifestyle, in careful balance with local ecosystem carrying
capacities, provides for both people and nature in this equation.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust’s efforts to develop new
sources of income – through tourism, land leases for conservancy,
compensation for livestock lost to wildlife, and alternative
employment options – has decreased local dependence on cattle
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for their livelihoods. Revenues coming into the community through
ecotourism and conservation work are now quite substantial,
and have been leveraged to both create new jobs and improve
local wellbeing. In particular, new revenue streams have created
livelihood opportunities for local people in the provision of essential
services such as health and education, and the wider community
has benefited immensely from efforts to fill these existing public
service gaps.
Employment and capacity building
The trust is the largest employer in the Kuku Group Ranch, employing
over 100 people in its conservation activities alone. Revenue from
MWCT activities has already greatly softened the financial blow of
drought-related cattle losses, which have been on the rise in recent
years. With decreased dependence on cattle, the community is now
in a better position to adapt to climate variability and to be more
resilient in the face of environmental and economic shocks.
The trust has also prioritized training and capacity building for a
new generation of leaders within the Maasai community. Trainings
provide Maasai employed by MWCT with new skills in sustainable
natural resource management that complement local traditional
knowledge. By expanding the knowledge base and skill-set of the
local population, the trust is working to expand livelihood options,
job opportunities, and overall community resilience. MWCT believes
that maintaining Maasai cultural heritage is not incompatible with
creating new development opportunities for the local population
and preparing for the uncertainties posed by climate change.
Education and health
Education and healthcare programs have opened up a number
of essential social services that were previously unavailable or
underfunded in the region. In addition to employing the only local
doctor in the area, the trust is providing a range of health services to
the Maasai community through four dispensaries and an outreach
program. The collective upshot is that thousands of people who
previously lacked access to medical care because of geographic
isolation are now being served. The MWCT health program has
developed a specific focus on maternal health, including baby
clinics, pre-natal health advice, and educational campaigns on family
planning. As a result, a significantly higher number of local women
are able to give birth at a health clinic, under medical supervision.
The reach and impact of the MWCT education program has been
equally impressive. The trust is the single largest employer of
teachers in the area, including the government. MWCT also operates
a school that serves over 700 students, while also supporting many
more schools in the region. A special academy has been constructed
and is now in operation which serves gifted students. Many of these
students are provided with scholarships that will allow them to
access higher education and open up vocational training options.
Women’s empowerment
Special emphasis has been placed by the trust on working to ensure
the full and active engagement and participation of women in
conservation and natural resource management activities. As one
example, the first female community rangers were employed in
2011, which has engaged local women in the monitoring of wildlife.
Additionally, four of the ten Advisory Board members are women
from the Kuku Group Ranch community. This may not seem overly
significant, but is in fact a relatively progressive achievement in the
context of Maasai traditions. Roughly 46 per cent of the teachers
employed by MWCT are women, with 25 per cent of those coming
from within the Maasai community.
POLICY IMPACTS
The Kenya Wildlife Society (KWS), the national conservation and
national park management agency, has demonstrated keen interest
in the ‘Wildlife Pays’ program, and is closely monitoring its potential
to provide a national model for effectively compensating herders
for losses to wildlife. MWCT is also increasing its outreach to key
government bodies regarding PES and REDD schemes, as well as
water and wildlife management.
This engagement with government agencies has been aided by
MWCT’s profile at the international level. Following a presentation
given by MWCT Board members to UNDP and UNEP officers, the
Permanent Secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Environment and Mineral
Resources, and the Acting Director of the National Environmental
Management Authority (NEMA) during the UNEP Environment
Ministers Summit in Nairobi in 2011, NEMA and the Ministry of
Environment identified MWCT as an implementing partner in a
KWS-led, Global Environment Facility-funded project focusing
on Kenya’s Southern Rangelands. The project – titled ‘Enhancing
the ecological integrity of the Tsavo-Chyulu-Amboseli ecosystem
through sustainable management and utilization of the natural
resources for improved livelihoods and poverty reduction’ – aims to
maximize ecological and economic benefits from Maasai communal
lands in the Tsavo-Chyulu-Amboseli ecosystem.
MWCT has played a leading role in the development of the
project, contributing its expertise in effective engagement of local
communities in conservation issues, as well as its demonstrated
ability to leverage financing for its core program activities. While GEF
funding will contribute up to USD 8 million over five years, MWCT
is expected to contribute co-financing. The project will also build
on MWCT’s exploration of potential PES schemes for carbon and
watershed services in the Chyulu Hills. The engagement of MWCT
in this project is an indication of its increasing role as a case study
in how to effectively engage Massai communities in conservation
efforts.
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
The trust has experienced a great deal of success to date, and is well
positioned to not only sustain its operations, but to expand them.
The diversity of economic development and revenue-generating
activities pursued by the trust ensures that financing of ongoing
conservation efforts is secured in the short- to medium-term.
Perhaps most central in terms of organizational sustainability
will be continuing to ensure that benefits from the trust and from
its programs reach the community and are perceived by the local
population as positively impacting their lives.
Financial sustainability
At the moment, MWCT is primarily funded through outside donors.
The trust recognizes the need to create a measure of financial
independence and self-sufficiency and is taking steps to explore
innovative funding options that would reduce its reliance on
philanthropy. Despite this dependence, MWCT does not rely on any
one source of funding, but has been able to develop an impressively
diverse portfolio of donor sources. The conservation levy charged
to eco-lodge visitors has been a central source of self-generated
revenue, and has been used to create employment and to fund
conservation activities.
The trust continues to look for ways to capitalize on the economic
potential of biodiversity and a healthy environment, having
identified this as the cornerstone of both the local economy and
of community health and wellbeing. MWCT has also started to
explore innovative conservation financing measures, building on
the ‘Wildlife Pays’ program, which itself is a new model of payment
for ecosystem services. Discussions have been opened with leaders
in the tourism industry on how best this model might be expanded
in neighbouring regions. Other options include the REDD feasibility
study and the development of a payment for ecosystem services
scheme around the protection of the Chyulu Hills watershed.
While MWCT has successfully negotiated and established two
conservancies through management agreements with Kuku Group
Ranch – protecting over 12,000 acres of critical migration corridor,
wetlands and grassland reserves – the trust is exploring longerterm
arrangements for expanding the amount of land under
conservation. Currently under negotiation is its most ambitious
conservancy management agreement to date, which would protect
one of the most critical water sources in western Tsavo. Through
this agreement, the Kuku community would be paid an annual
per acre sum in exchange for a management agreement with
MWCT to set aside the acreage as “no graze, no boma, no farming”
– prohibiting livestock herding, settlements, or cultivation – and as
an area to be managed as an ecological conservancy by the trust.
These management agreements bring higher revenue to the Maasai
communities than the yield from marginal farming and grazing,
and are therefore an attractive proposition. To date, they have been
funded with grants; MWCT is now working to raise a substantial
endowment that would support the model in perpetuity. The goal
of raising a USD 7-10 million conservancy trust fund was defined in
2012 as part of the trust’s four-year plan, which sets out the goal of
transitioning from philanthropic grants to creating market-based
revenue streams (such as carbon credits) and sustainable long-term
models of underwriting (such as endowments.)
Community ownership
In each of its programs, MWCT is demonstrating effective and
creative solutions that protect local ecosystems and support a model
for delivering long-term benefits for rural communities. Strong
community approval for MWCT benefit-sharing arrangements
represents a key social component of the initiative’s stability and
long-term sustainability. The trust holds itself to a high level of
accountability to the community it serves, notably including how
revenues flow into the community. The vast majority of direct benefits
are paid in the form of new employment, whether in the community
ranger program, at the Chyulu Conservation and Research Centre, or
within the education and healthcare programs.
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As well as being direct beneficiaries of the initiative, local community
members are deeply involved in the governance of MWCT. While the
trust benefits from having an experienced international board, local
representation is never compromised or side-lined. Many of the
key roles within the MWCT program areas are filled by local Maasai
people. Ongoing training and education of younger community
members ensures the capacity of future generations. The Director
and Operations Commander of the community rangers program are
both Maasai, as are the Wildlife Pays Coordinator, the Conservation
Support Officer, and the Simba Scout Coordinator (Simba Scouts
comprise eight Maasai warriors paid to patrol Kuku Group Ranch,
recording animal – and particularly lion – sightings and locations.)
In 2009, MWCT acquired and renovated a defunct safari camp,
transforming it into the Chyulu Conservation and Research Centre.
The Centre serves as the MWCT headquarters and is a hub for its
many collaborations and partnerships. Research activities provide
further alternative livelihood opportunities for the local community,
providing training and work for community members as staff,
security guards and research assistants.
REPLICATION
The trust is constantly working to expand the reach and ambition
of its conservation work. It has opened discussion with leading
representatives of the Kenya tourism industry on how some of
its best practices might be scaled up, including the application
of a ‘wildlife surcharge’ on the guests of larger hotel concessions
within the national parks. Extension of this approach would allow
coordinated wildlife security work to be expanded throughout the
Maasai lands between Amboseli and Tsavo National Parks.
Plans are also in place to scale-up the MWCT land conservancy
initiative. Conservancy deals to date cover 12,000 acres, but have the
potential to be expanded to 22,000 acres in the short-term. MWCT is
negotiating further conservancy agreements, while simultaneously
beginning to raise funds for the creation of a permanent endowment
to fund the conservancy network in perpetuity. The help of
potential partner funders is also being sought to assist in scaling the
endowment and the conservancy network throughout the region.
In March 2011, MWCT hosted the first ‘Chyulu Carbon Summit’ at
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its headquarters in the Chyulu Conservation and Research Center.
The goal was to discuss the potential for developing payment
for ecosystem services schemes in the region, including carbon
storage and REDD credits. Representatives from Kuku and Mbirikani
Group Ranches, Kenya Wildlife Service, Conservation International,
Wildlife Works, African Wildlife Foundation, UNEP and Maasailand
Preservation Trust all participated, along with the Chyulu Forest
Maasai stakeholders, government representatives, NGOs and private
sector carbon brokers. This demonstrates the extent to which MWCT
is becoming a regional centre of excellence for community-based
conservation and sustainable land management.
Work is being undertaken with neighbouring Maasai communities
to encourage the replication and uptake of the trust’s activities.
MWCT maintains a long-running collaboration with Maasailand
Preservation Trust, a ‘sister’ community trust in the same ecosystem,
which now models its own livestock compensation strategy on the
‘Wildlife Pays’ program. Given that over three-quarters of Kenya is
classified as arid and semi-arid lands, MWCT work has great potential
to be replicated in other parts of the country. The UNDP-implemented
GEF-Small Grants Programme has held discussions with MWCT to
explore potential methods for replicating its activities and sharing
knowledge gained in sustainable rangeland management with
other pastoralist communities in neighbouring regions.
PARTNERS
MWCT’s US-based partner affiliate, Maasai Wilderness Conservation
Fund (MWCF) is a registered 501c3 non-profit, tax-exempt
organization. MWCF raises funds from US donors which it grants to
MWCT based on jointly approved budgets.
MWCT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kenya
Wildlife Service, the government entity responsible for wildlife in
Kenya. KWS supports MWCT wildlife security operations and has
approved the trust training program for conservation scouts.
Conservation International has been working with MWCT on developing
payment for ecosystem services. Together with Wildlife Works, they are
supporting the Kuku community in a REDD feasibility analysis. The trust
has also secured the support of a number of other organizations in this
endeavour, including: AECOM, who provide a wide range of technical
services and assistance and have taken on the trust as a pro bono client;
the Solar Electric Light Fund; and TEEB author Pavan Sukhdev’s GIST
Advisory Group, which is providing technical expertise on calculating the
economic value of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The JP Morgan
Fund has also provided support for this collaboration in PES.
MWCT partners with the Zoological Society of London, which has
worked in Kenya for over 20 years with strong involvement in the
development of national species management strategies, on speciesspecific
research, monitoring, and conservation management.
This partnership aims to develop standardized species monitoring
protocols for the region. The trust has also engaged with USbased
Texas A&M University’s Department of Ecosystem Science and
Management (formerly Forest Science and Rangeland Ecology and
Management) to initiate a research partnership based at the Chyulu
Conservation and Research Centre to study impacts of herding
practice, fire and drought on grasslands, and to develop a long-term
management strategy for sustainable use.
MWCT was selected by Google Earth Outreach as one of its ‘model’
projects for Africa. The trust was also awarded a three-year grant by
the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation to fund the employment
of a Health Program Director. US-based NGO Partners in Health
assisted the trust in recruitment for this new role.
Additional partnerships include support from Hotelplan (a Swiss tour
operator), which donated USD 250,000 to build a primary school,
including teachers’ accommodation, and the Le Rosey Foundation,
which donates USD 25,000 a year to sustain MWCT core programs.
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MAKULEKE ECOTOURISM
PROJECT - PAFURI CAMP
South Africa
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Afrikaans
Pafuri Camp is a community-led ecotourism initiative in the northern part of the
Kruger National Park that provides a wide range of activities, including game drives,
night drives, walks and wildlife hides. Revenues from Pafuri Camp are used in both
community development projects, as well as biodiversity conservation initiatives.
Pafuri Camp takes a participatory approach to ecotourism, based on the idea that
community-based action is often the most effective approach to biodiversity
protection and sustainable development. Activities are designed not only to
generate income for the local community, but also to raise awareness among the
local population of the value of protecting biodiversity in the region. Anti-poaching
teams have been established to identify and eliminate illegal poaching.

Background and Context
Pafuri Camp is situated in the 24,000-hectare Makuleke concession
in the northernmost section of Kruger National Park in South Africa.
The ecotourism site is located on the north bank of the Luvuvhu River,
which flows through the Makuleke concession and is bordered by the
Limpopo River and Zimbabwe to the north and by Mozambique to
the east. The main objectives of the Pafuri Camp are to protect the
unique ecosystems and wildlife of the region and sustain a competitive
ecotourism enterprise that provides the community with alternative
livelihood opportunities and sustainable sources of income.
The region of Kruger National Park where the Makuleke ecotourism
project operates is part of the savannah woodland biome of South
Africa. Vegetation in the area includes savannah grassland, mopane
woodland, mountain and gorge vegetation, and riverine forest.
Landmarks within the community concession include Lanner Gorge,
one of the largest fever tree forests on the planet, and Crook’s Corner,
where Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa intersect. In 2007,
the area was declared a Ramsar Site in acknowledgement of its
importance as a wetland. The area is also significant for its palaeoanthropological
history. The land surrounding Pafuri Camp contains
an abundance of archaeological evidence of early human settlements
– rock paintings and artefacts such as Stone Age hand axes – from
approximately two million years ago through to the Iron Age.
In a widely-publicized campaign, the community won back legal
title over their lands in 1998 after a restitution of land rights process.
The community decided to retain the conservation status and to
establish a Joint Management Board comprised of members from
the community and representatives from the Kruger National Park.
The community devised a strategy that would provide a sustainable
source of economic development and income for the community
and, at the same time, ensure the ecological integrity of the land and
protection of endemic wildlife species.
The agreement which was eventually signed, and which returned
land title back to the community, envisaged two areas where
strategic partners could be involved: conservation management and
commercial development. South Africa National Parks was identified
in the agreement as the strategic partner for conservation activities
(though Makuleke maintains autonomy in choosing strategic
partners for its commercial activities) while Wilderness Safaris was
awarded the contract to partner in construction of the luxury ecolodge
that would become Pafuri Camp.
Annexation and regaining community land title
The origins of the Makuleke community, in a region formerly known
as the Pafuri Triangle, can be traced to the land dispossession
and forced removal of the group in the 1960s. Residents of the
community were forcibly removed from their lands in 1969. The land
was incorporated into Kruger National Park and a small portion was
incorporated into Madimbo Corridor, a military cordon sanitaire. The
Makuleke community was resettled at Ntlhaveni, a newly established
reserve for Tsonga speaking people located 70 kilometers from their
original territory.
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What emerged then was a unique partnership between a community,
a private sector partner and the state. Ownership of the Makuleke
community land was returned to the Communal Property Association
(CPA), who held responsibility for the land on behalf of community
members. The land itself remains part of Kruger National Park for a
period of 50 years, subject to review in 25 years. A joint management
board was established for the day-to-day management of conservation
activities in the territory. All commercial benefits arising from the land
would be accrued by the community, while South Africa National Park
remains responsible for conservation matters subject to directives
from the joint management board.
A community ecotourism venture
Today, Pafuri Camp provides visitors with access to what is considered
one of Kruger National Park’s most biodiverse regions; a landscape
that is home to some of the largest elephant and buffalo herds on
the planet, as well as leopards, lions, and a remarkable diversity of
bird species. Rhino and wildebeest have also been reintroduced
into the area after being locally extinct for more than a century. The
ecotourism site is comprised of 20 luxury tents, which are divided
into Pafuri East and Pafuri West. A central area contains a lounge, bar
and dining area, as well as two swimming pools which look out over
the river. Tents and the central amenities are all on raised platforms
and connected via elevated walkways so that wildlife can move
undisturbed to and from the river.
One of the fundamental objectives of Makuleke CPA (as stipulated
in its constitution) is to manage and administer the restored land
for the benefit of all community members in a participatory and
non-discriminatory way. The community contains more than 15,000
beneficiaries in three villages. All income-generating activities
pursued by the group aim to benefit this constituency. Pafuri Camp
has a preferential policy in place for its members such that only when
a particular skill set is not available in the community are external
consultants sought.
“The community must see tangible benefits from biodiversity conservation. Without these benefits,
people that are economically marginalized see little incentive to preserve large tracts of land.”
Masingita Mavis Hatlane, Makuleke
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Key Activities and Innovations
Kruger National Park is South Africa’s premier game destination,
stretching down from the country’s northwestern border with
Zimbabwe along the western border with Mozambique. In recent
years, progress has been made in the opening up of national borders
to allow the free movement of wildlife between Limpopo National
Park in Mozambique, Gona-Re-Zhou National Park in Zimbabwe and
Kruger National Park in South Africa. The three now form the Great
Limpopo Transfrontier Park. Together with Kruger National Park and
Wilderness Safaris, the Makuleke community is now actively involved
in the environmental management of the area including prohibiting
all poaching and the re-introduction of a number of species.
Ecotourism
The community-run enterprise offers visitors game drives, walks,
cultural tours, bird watching, and hospitality services. Morning,
afternoon and evening guided game drives in open 4x4 vehicles allow
access to the farthest reaches of the private Makuleke concession.
Guided walks also allow guests to explore the riverine forests that
run along the Luvuvhu and Limpopo rivers and the more rugged
kopjes (small, rocky hills) which contain hidden springs and gorges.
Visitors are offered outings to the Makuleke village – where they can
experience a local meal, dancing and a visit with a traditional healer
– and excursions to the archaeological site of Thulamela.
Pafuri Camp is operated in an environmentally friendly manner. Guest
rooms are powered by solar energy, which reduces dependence on
carbon-based fuels. The camp recycles all plastic, paper, glass, and
aluminium – a practice which is being promoted in communities in
the concession area through recycling education, marked bins, and
waste removal services.
Environmental education
Another key activity area for the Makuleke community and Pafuri
Camp is environment education. In addition to hosting seminars on
wildlife management and the creation of education centres on waste
management, water preservation and ecological conservation, the
group runs a highly successful environmental education program
targeted at youth called Children in the Wilderness (CITW). The initiative
involves annual programs run out of Pafuri camp for local Makuleke
school children. CITW uses environmental education, recreation, and
exposure visits to foster a sense of community pride and awareness of
the importance of the environment to human wellbeing. The program
provides children with a chance to experience local and traditional
knowledge of land management techniques. Environmental clubs
have been launched in follow-up sessions at all five schools in Makuleke
village. These clubs provide a platform for children to engage with the
issues of environmental conservation, HIV/AIDS, water conservation,
wildlife management, human-animal conflict, agriculture and local
development. The clubs aim to inspire the next generation of rural
decision-makers and raise their awareness of the issues confronting the
region, including climate change. Club activities culminate in a children’s
camp which is hosted by CITW and Pafuri Camp. The five-day camp
focuses on team building, leadership development, environmental
conservation activities and game drive excursions.
CITW is complemented by an Elderly in the Wilderness (EITW)
program that focuses on transferring indigenous knowledge about
the importance of wetlands management to a new generation of
leaders and thinkers in the community.
Hydroponic tunnel farming
Pafuri Camp now runs a Makuleke Hydroponics Tunnel Farming
Project, which produces fresh vegetables – tomatoes, spinach
and three kinds of lettuce – that are used for Pafuri Camp food
preparation needs or sold to other ecotourism operations in the
region. The group installed a ‘hydroponic tunnel’ in the community
to strengthen local resilience to seasonal weather variations, reduce
dependence on fluctuating water supplies, and to vary seasonal
crops.
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Pafuri Camp boasts the highest density of nyala in or around Kruger
National Park. Other game includes impala, greater kudu, Burchell’s
zebra, the chacma baboon, waterbuck, warthog and bushbuck. More
elusive species that can be spotted include the Sharpe’s grysbok,
the yellow spotted rock dassie, eland and sable. Herds of elephants
move into the concession area during drier months. The area is
home to healthy populations of lions, leopards and hyenas. The
confluence of the Limpopo and Luvuvhu Rivers also supports large
hippo and crocodile populations. Rhino and wildebeest have been
relocated in the area after being extinct for nearly a century. Pafuri
is also renowned as amongst South Africa’s top birding destinations
with resident populations of Bohm’s Spinetails, Racket-tailed Rollers,
the three-banded Courser, Pel’s Fishing Owl, Wattle-Eyed Flycatcher
and the Tropical Boubou.
Anti-poaching units and wildlife monitoring
The community has mobilized an anti-poaching force to protect
wildlife in the territory. The group has removed a large number of
snares from the concession areas, which injure or kill endemic wildlife.
The monitoring and surveillance activities of the anti-poaching units
have led to the recovery of both herbivore and predator populations.
These conservation efforts in turn improve game viewing, which
translates to better business for the ecotourism venture. The graphs
below demonstrate the drop in snares found in the Makuleke
concession area between 2003 and 2007, and the rising number of
predator sightings between 2005 and 2007. Wildlife populations in
the territory are estimated based on sighting records kept by guides
and anti-poaching units. The group has also developed ‘identity kits’
that are used to identify individual predator animals, such as lions
and wild dogs. Similar kits are being developed to identify migrating
elephant herds.
In 2005, Wilderness Safaris and Kruger National Park worked with
the community on an initiative called the Makuleke Large Mammal
Reintroduction Project. The initiative involved the (re)introduction of
supplementary populations of zebra and impala, as well as founder
populations for species that had become locally extinct like white
rhino, giraffe, and blue wildebeest. The aim of the project was to
create a ‘breeding nucleus’ of species that were historically present in
the region but which were hunted to extinction. This project has be
complemented by a number of research and monitoring efforts to
ensure healthy populations and habitats for white rhino, elephant,
yellow-billed oxpeckers, hippos, racket-tailed roller, Pel’s fishing owl,
wild dogs, and a number of reptile species.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The Makuleke community is composed of approximately 15,000
residents. The population suffers from a lack of economic opportunity
and has an unemployment rate of 80%. The target beneficiaries of
Pafuri Camp work and reside in three villages located on the border
of Kruger National Park.
Employment, income and revenue-sharing benefits
Pafuri Camp is the largest single employer of residents of the
Makuleke community. A central component of the partnership
agreement negotiated with Wilderness Safaris on construction and
operation of Pafuri Camp was the stipulation that at least 90% of
those employed by the ecotourism enterprise would be drawn from
the local community. There are currently 45 community members
employed in operating the eco-lodge, eight employed as part of
anti-poaching efforts, and more than 20 undergoing technical
training, skills development and vocational training for employment
elsewhere. During the construction phase of Pafuri Camp, more
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than 100 community members received temporary employment.
For 74% of Pafuri Camp staff, the job represents their first permanent
position of employment. Job security and a steady source of income
have stimulated investments in education, housing and community
infrastructure. Gender equality has also been made a priority, with
roughly 58% of staff positions going to local women. To date, a
total of USD 538,732 has been paid out in salaries to permanent
employees of Pafuri Camp, and a further USD 461,782 to community
members employed as part of anti-poaching efforts.
The Makuleke community has also collectively benefited from the
revenue sharing agreement negotiated as part of the Wildnerness
Safaris partnership. An 8% share of lodge revenues is paid into
the Makuleke CPA. These funds are made available for community
works and development projects, and have helped launch bed
and breakfast businesses and the hydroponic vegetable growing
business, all of which employ and provide incomes for community
members. To date, a total of USD 179,651 has been channeled
through the Makuleke CPA into community projects.
There has also been a multiplier effect of the benefits accrued
through operation of the Pafuri Camp and resource channeled
through the Makuleke CPA. A survey of Pafuri Camp staff shows an
average 6.16 dependents per employee. These numbers suggest
that a further 246 community members directly benefit from the
job creation and income generation associated with the ecotourism
enterprise. Wages have also been invested into social and
community infrastructure in schools, businesses, bursaries, women’s
self-help groups, and youth development.
Fig. 1: Impacts of conservation, Makuluke Contractual Park (2003-2007)
LEFT: Ntomeni Ranger Snare Recoveries (2003-2007) RIGHT: Predator trends (2005-2007) Source: Masingita Mavis Hatlane, Makuleke
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
A number of factors determine the long-term sustainability of Pafuri
Camp. The social dimension of the work, and close ties with resident
communities, has been crucial thus far. Employment, on-the-job
training, bursaries for higher education and vocational training, loans
for small business development, and investments into community
infrastructure and social services (health clinics, schools, etc.) all help to
foster social capital and community cohesion. Ensuring that benefits
continue to flow directly to the community is essential to ensuring the
long-term viability of the Pafuri Camp model. Institutionally, the group
needs to maintain close ties and healthy working relationships with
national government authorities and bodies. This support has been
and will remain critical. Financially, the initiative is proving sustainable
with revenues on the rise and high rates of reinvestment into the
community. After a slow start in 2005, occupancy rates at Pafuri Camp
have increased and allowed the business to pass the break-even point.
The business has been operating at a profit since 2008.
In terms of ecological sustainability, the group has supported
independent environmental impact assessments for all of its
development projects. Much will depend on continued collaboration
between the managers of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park to
ensure protection of important wildlife corridors. The project’s capacity
to sustain, enhance, and expand environmental benefits also depends
largely on the commercial viability of the ecotourism operation. As
revenues increase from Pafuri Camp, the environmental protection
afforded through the Makuleke concession will be more secure. Should
the ecotourism business begin to struggle, the Makuleke people, as
land owners, will look for alternative ways of making the land pay off.
REPLICATION
Pafuri Camp has shared its model with other communities. Wilderness
Safaris has been an effective conduit for the sharing of best practices;
it employs similar models in many of its other camps such as
Damaraland Camp and Doro Nawas Camp in Namibia, Rocktail Beach
Camp in South Africa, and five camps associated with the Okavango
Community Trust in Botswana.
The experiences of the community – both in operating Pafuri Camp
and in navigating the governance and decision-making growing
pains of Makuleke CPA – have been documented by the group in an
attempt to engage in successful knowledge exchange.
PARTNERS
Pafuri Camp is a three-way partnership between community
landowners (the Makuleke community), a private enterprise
(Wilderness Safaris), and the state (South Africa National Parks
- Kruger National Park). The organization has also worked since
its inception with a number of non-governmental organization
partners on community development projects.
Makuleke community: The community – through the Makuleke
CPA – are official owners of the land, after 30 years of government
annexation. They made a decision to maintain the conservation
status of the land after regaining legal title, so the partnership
originates from and rests with the community.
Wilderness Safaris: This independent private enterprise has a
contractual agreement in place with the Makuleke community to
develop a viable ecotourism lodge in a mutually beneficial 45-year
lease. The group is responsible for branding, marketing and public
relations.
South Africa National (SAN) Parks: This government authority is in
a 50-year contractual agreement with the Makuleke community. It
contributes conservation management expertise and biodiversity
conservation strategies.
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N≠A JAQNA CONSERVANCY
Namibia
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Afrikaans l German
With 912,000 ha of communal land, N≠a Jaqna Conservancy combines the sustainable
management of endemic wildlife and natural resources with the empowerment of
Namibia’s !Kung San people. (Symbols ‘≠’ and ‘!’ represent distinct click sounds unique
to Khoisan languages.) Established as a conservancy in 2003, the organization trains
local !Kung San as wildlife managers, committee members and game guards. Objectives
include re-establishing game populations and sustainable forest management through
sound planning, management and monitoring.
The governance structure for the conservancy, is prescribed by Namibian law as part
of its successful Community Based Natural Resource Management Programme. In
addition, the N≠a Jaqna Conservancy has evolved a highly consultative governance
model that matches the unique leadership system of the !Kung San people.

Background and Context
Namibian land policy allows for the creation of conservancies
within existing communal areas in which traditional leaders enter
into collaborative land management agreements with the state.
The conservancy management structure gives members of the
conservancy shared rights to that land, while the government holds
the land in trust for the people, who have a say in how the land is
managed and how it is used. No others can enter or occupy the
land without permission from the local traditional authority and the
conservancy.
CBNRM legislation and the history of the N≠a Jaqna
The N≠a Jaqna Conservancy in the north-east region of
Otjozondjupa, one of only two San-governed Conservancies in
Namibia, was gazetted in December of 2003 under the Ministry of
Environment and Tourism’s Community-based Natural Resource
Management (CBNRM) Programme as a result of peoples’ lack of
land rights and fear of lack of ownership. Because of this, the !Kung
San people have since been granted management and utilization
rights to the natural resources within the Conservancy and exclusive
rights to benefit from the development of tourism in the area. While
the conservancy was gazetted in 2003, the process began much
earlier in 1998 when 1,850 members of the largely San community
first applied to the government for conservancy rights. Many of the
San living in the area had been relocated during the conflict in the
country, some as far as Angola. While this increased the number of
San in the area (largely those of the same language group) it did not
bring any benefits in terms of land security or investment.
The Conservancy provides the !Kung San people with a degree of land
security; it is a way for people to earn income from the land by utilizing
natural resources in a sustainable manner. They can engage in trophy
hunting if game is plentiful, small-scale agriculture, and other activities
with minimal impact on the environment. This arrangement offers an
equitable option for people to apply for formal rights to the land – a
process not often available to local communities.
Creating a community management plan
Though the Conservancy is a government program, all decisions
– from measuring and designating boundaries to the allocation of
responsibility within the Conservancy – require the support of the
entire community (estimates range from 2,000 to 5,000 people)
many of whom are illiterate or minimally educated. The founding
of the conservancy required the vast majority of the people to be in
favor of the management plan, and though it took nearly five years,
the necessary support was eventually procured.
N≠a Jaqna is currently the largest registered conservancy in Namibia
to date, with an area of more than 9,120km2. Kalahari sands cover
a flat landscape of broadleaf and acacia woodland which receives
a paltry 400-450mm of rainfall in an average year. The vast majority
of Conservancy inhabitants rely on the land and resources of this
environment for bush foods, medicines, grass and wood for building,
fuel in the form of firewood, as well as grazing and cropping. The
Conservancy is host to a vast amount of biodiversity as well as highvalue
game species and commercially viable plants utilized for their
medicinal value. The large size of the area provides ample areas
well suited to wildlife habitat. The large size also means that many
villages are isolated and the costs of operating the Conservancy are
higher than in other conservancies due to the scattered nature of
settlement and resources.
For the purposes of management, the Conservancy has been
divided into four districts. A comprehensive participatory planning
exercise in all the settlements of the Conservancy has resulted
in a resource-zoning scheme that has been agreed to by the
Conservancy membership, the local !Kung Traditional Authority,
as well as governmental and non-governmental stakeholders. This
zoning plan is reflected in the Constitution of the Conservancy and
the official Management and Utilization Plan. Business and tourism
development strategies are now in place and are being implemented
in concert with these guiding community-based management plans.
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Key Activities and Innovations
The management and utilization plan of the conservancy, agreed
to by the inhabitants of the area, provide for the following central
objectives: to re-establish optimum game populations in the
Conservancy through sound management and careful, responsible
planning; to ensure that the benefits derived by membership
through the utilization of wildlife are sustainable and that these
benefits are delivered to all members of the Conservancy; to prevent
conflict between segments of the Conservancy membership
and between the Conservancy membership and wildlife; and to
improve the livelihoods of all members of the Conservancy through
the distribution of benefits from viable tourism operations in the
Conservancy.
Due to poaching and the over-harvesting of local flora within the
surrounding areas, plant and wildlife populations had declined in
the years leading up to the conservancy’s creation. Concerned by
the decline in biodiversity, the conservancy, with the help of donors,
has been able to reverse this trend to some degree, through the
mixed use of careful conservation and sustainable tourism practices.
One of the main activities has been the introduction of more wildlife
into the area through partner support.
Over 2,650 community members currently belong to the
conservancy and hold decision-making power on how their land
is developed and managed. Tourism, gaming contracts and the
sustainable collection of indigenous plant species (such as the
Devil’s Claw, or Harpagophytum procumbens) are sources of income
for the otherwise economically marginalized !Kung San people.
Conservation is bolstered by indigenous knowledge and traditional
land management practices. In addition to a Community Forest
Programme, the group is engaged in tour guide and game guard
training, has supported two successful community-run tourism
initiatives, and actively pursues partnerships with commercial tour
companies and private hunting contractors.
Sustainable wildlife management
Once game animals were brought to the area, the conservancy was
able to form an anti-poaching unit—game guards—who run patrols
under the employ of the Conservancy. Working not only to secure
the safety of the animals, but also to help enhance the health of the
ecosystem, the game guards engage in practices such as digging
out water holes to increase the volume of water available to both
the animals and the human inhabitants.
The increased abundance of game animals has given rise to a very
successful tourism practice as well. The N≠a Jaqna Conservancy has
a contract with a trophy hunting agency that in turn imports game
animals each year. The acceptable quota for trophy hunters is quite
specific in order to only take what can be easily recovered within
the population of animals in the area, and the rules governing the
quota are strict: for instance, during breeding periods it is forbidden
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to shoot near water holes, while pregnant animals may not be killed.
Tourists pay high prices to hunt in the area and a good portion of that
money goes back into the conservancy, enabling it to sustain itself in
terms of managing the water supply and future generations of game
animals. When trophy hunters make a kill, they are not allowed to take
the whole animal; the hunter is allowed to remove the head or another
small part of the animal (designated by law), but the main part of the
animal goes to the conservancy as meat. The people receive not only
money, but food from this arrangement as well, and it is also a way of
reducing poaching. The !Kung San lack a great deal of food security, so
the provision of a regular meat source – one that also provides monetary
income – helps to stigmatize and thus reduce instances of poaching.
Use of indigenous plants and traditional knowledge
Another important activity to monitor is plant use. Historically, the
conservancy enjoys a substantial income from harvesting Devil’s
Claw, a plant used for treating arthritis and rheumatism. When the
market for Devil’s Claw first emerged, there was a drive to harvest
as much of the plant as possible and sell it at the highest possible
price, potentially limiting or even eliminating a resource necessary
to the economy of the area. Devil’s Claw takes approximately 2-4
years to grow to maturity, and so the conservancy was motivated to
become extremely proactive in the management of harvesting. The
harvesting of Devil’s Claw is now carefully monitored: the number
of harvesters certified by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism
is limited and the season available for people to harvest has been
reduced substantially. Additionally, the Conservancy’s crop of Devil’s
Claw has been certified organic on a South African regional level, and
the area is regularly surveyed to ensure appropriate re-growth and
abundance. If the levels of Devil’s Claw are insufficient, the organic
certification can be revoked. Having the organic certification also
raises the price of the produce, giving the people of the conservancy
about 15% more in profits than they would otherwise receive.
Fig. 1: N≠a Jaqna Conservancy
Kilometres
Source: NACSO. 2010. Namibia’s communal conservancies: a review of progress and challenges in 2009. NACSO, Windhoek. p. 112.
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Through the contract with the trophy hunting agency, around
250 new game animals are introduced into the conservancy each
year. In addition, there is evidence that the animals currently living
within the conservancy are reproducing in good numbers, based on
reports from the game guards. This demonstrates the Conservancy’s
clear net gain in terms of wildlife population.
Increases in key wildlife species
The conservancy has seen resurgences in elephant, giraffe, wild
dog and roan antelope populations. Commonly spotted species
include eland, caracal, blackback, jackal, kudu, duiker, steenbok,
warthog, porcupine, shrub hare, bat-eared fox, brown hyena (listed
as vulnerable) and spotted hyena.
Due to the remote location and lack of infrastructure, few large scale
reviews have been done. However, the number of game introduced
between 2006 and 2009 totaled 399 animals, including blue
wildebeest, eland, giraffe, oryx and kudu, as well as a few ostrich.
There have also been camera trap placements at one water hole
which shows a very active population, including leopards, wild dogs
(listed as endangered), brown hyena and elephants. (Click here to
see some of the animals captured by motion-activated camera.)
N≠a Jaqna recently had their community game guards, who
carry out anti-poaching patrols over the Conservancy’s vast area,
rated as one of the best such groups in Namibia by the Ministry
of Environment and Tourism (who rewarded them with horses to
increase the guards’ ranges). Alongside this approach is a focus on
reducing human-wildlife conflict – for instance by investigating and
promoting rangeland management techniques which allow cattlegrazing
and wildlife to co-exist.
Sustainable harvesting of Devil’s Claw
As for the Devil’s Claw harvest, much has been done to manage
and sustain this critical component of the area’s indigenous genetic
diversity. Conservancy leaders go to each village and train individuals
within the conservancy on how to harvest the Devil’s Claw. After
training, a limited number of certified harvesters are registered for
the four-month harvest period. During the harvest, the registered
individuals continue to be monitored. If conservancy leaders find
that they are not practising sustainable harvesting techniques,
their permit is cancelled and they are no longer able to harvest. This
practice is supported by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism,
which issues the permit.
Throughout Namibia, there is a clear set of best practices for the
Devil’s Claw harvest, and N≠a Jaqna conservancy has adapted those
best practices to fit the practices of individual and family-based
harvesting groups. For example, there are specific measurements
in terms of the size of the plants and tubers that people are taking,
and as long as harvesters keep the main taproot intact, the plant
will regenerate on its own. By adhering to these guidelines, it is clear
which plants are damaged and which ones will regenerate, and the
conservancy, by controlling the purchase and shipment of Devil’s
Claw within and outside of the area, has been able to greatly increase
the amount of economic and social benefits that the harvesters
receive as well.
Participatory land use planning and monitoring
In terms of human interaction with biodiversity, the conservancy
engaged in a scheme of participatory resource zoning in each of the
19 villages in the conservancy. The villages were surveyed in order to
learn which areas have higher concentrations of various foods (both
flora and fauna) and medicines that people are utilizing –the end goal
being to protect those areas where biodiversity exists and where it
could potentially flourish. The conservancy has set apart areas for
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human settlement, for mixed farming, cropping, cattle keeping, and
small stock rearing, as well as for undisturbed wildlife. In this way,
the !Kung San have made efforts to keep these at times conflicting
land uses separate so that the biowealth of the conservancy may
continue to exist and expand.
The Conservancy’s policies have limited destruction of the fragile
ecosystem of N≠a Jaqna, much of which is still untouched wilderness.
Specific risks which the Conservancy deals with include overgrazing by
the few farmers within the area (and a much bigger risk of farmers from
the surrounding area), associated bush clearance, illegal deforestation
(especially the cutting and selling of protected hard wood trees), over
harvesting and illegal trade in Devils Claw, and poaching. The projects
and policies of the Conservancy, and the monitoring provided by
community game guards counteract these risks.
Certain plant and animal species are monitored by the Ministry
of Environment and Tourism, and community game guards keep
“event books” which log sightings and activities. Over time it will be
possible to build up an assessment of impacts from these records,
but in the nine years the Conservancy has been operating this has
not yet been collated.
Instead, impacts are measured from feedback by community game
guards and the local population. Whilst this might be presumed to
be unscientific, the vast experience of most Conservancy members
in bush and wildlife knowledge – most of them having lived their
lives in wildlife rich areas with very close interactions with the
surrounding environment, not to mention the traditional knowledge
passed down in San culture – has ensured the collation of a rich body
of knowledge on ecosystem management.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The target beneficiaries are the residents of N≠a Jaqna Conservancy,
the majority of whom (~85%) are indigenous San people, and nearly
all of whom are poor rural dwellers with low education, surviving on
subsistence farming, wild food collection and drought relief supplies.
Economic benefits from sustainable harvesting
After 2007, when the monitored Devil’s Claw harvest began in N≠a
Jaqna under the auspices of the conservancy, the membership of the
conservancy received approximately N$1.2 million in direct economic
benefit from the harvest. Devils Claw harvest generated over N$200,000
in revenue for the community in 2007, with this amount increasing to
N$950,000 in 2009. This increase was due not only to a larger harvest,
but also from increased prices from organic certification, increased
quality and improved negotiations with the supplier.
The conservancy as an institution is also generating some income
for people who are members but are not directly involved with the
harvesting, thanks to an additional premium from the buyer to the
conservancy on each kilo of Devil’s Claw harvested. The conservancy
is a major worldwide player in the Devil’s Claw market, particularly
in the organically certified market; in 2008, N≠a Jaqna was the single
largest Namibian producer of organically certified Devil’s Claw. The
money generated from the Devil’s Claw harvest is substantial, and
according to the Conservancy’s benefit distribution plan, the first
priority for its investment is pre-schools.
Improved incomes, food security, and gender equality
There are other sources of jobs and income from the tourism
arrangement with the trophy hunting organization, and the resulting
meat brings additional food security. In addition, there are further
job opportunities in terms of game guards, conservancy staff, and
people involved in various projects that the conservancy runs.
Though there is not much in the way of infrastructure in the
conservancy area, there have been economic indicators that the
jobs and additional income are having a positive effect; for example,
there is an increase in cattle ownership – which requires considerable
investment on the part of the individual. Trophy hunting partners
provide between 20 and 30 carcasses per year from their farm as
meat distributed to the community, which is an important addition
in an area with low food security.
Though there continues to be an educational disparity between
men and women in the conservancy, many of the projects in N≠a
Jaqna focus especially on gender inclusion. Women are in charge
of the Devil’s Claw harvest and the training of new harvesters. Each
village has a female team leader for the harvest who is responsible
for making sure that the harvest is conducted in a sustainable
manner, maintaining a position of authority over all harvesters.
Overall, the role of women in the conservancy is very strong;
N≠a Jaqna’s constitution guarantees 50/50 representation in the
Conservancy’s village leadership committee structure—generally
a man and a woman from each village. In some cases, there may
be two women from one village and two men from another, but
the leadership structure is held equal overall. In the management
committee, which is comprised of 4 people, there are two women
and two men.
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they have ended up with occupying some of the worst areas of land
in Southern Africa. Owning a project and managing the land in which
this project operates – and wanting to continue to operate that
project – is part of the process of interacting with the state, which
requires a confidence and a political voice that had traditionally
escaped the !Kung San.
Highly democratic governance processes
The people of N≠a Jaqna are also extremely engaged in the
management of their conservancy. Though the area is still fairly lean
in terms of infrastructure, conservancy leaders actually drive from
village to village to have the management plans discussed with and
endorsed by the entire membership of several thousand. In this way,
there is a true democracy of management.
Enterprise development, education, and health
Very few people had access to cash income or employment before
the Conservancy was established. The Conservancy now employs
12 local people full time, and members enjoy cash incomes from
the sale of Devil’s Claw, various wood products, craft and increased
tourism revenue. A number of conservancy-run projects also provide
livelihood opportunities including: chicken and melon growing
projects in two villages; vegetable gardens in nine villages; two
tourism sites; and a pilot ostrich farm to provide egg shell to craft
makers (San jewelry is traditionally made from ostrich eggshell).
The Annual General Meeting decided in 2010 to invest a portion
of profits into education, specifically early childhood development
in the region. The increased frequency of transport due to the
Conservancy activities means that their vehicle frequently serves as
an ambulance in the area, providing much needed access to the only
operational health clinic.
POLICY IMPACTS
There are now quite a few wildlife conservancies in Namibia, but N≠a
Jaqna is one of the most well-known and well-respected, particularly
with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. After winning
the Equator Prize in 2008, N≠a Jaqna’s success lent credibility to
the entire conservancy scheme, and promoted environmental
awareness within Namibia as a whole. It has also served to strengthen
community-based natural resource management; in terms of land
security and in terms of the conservancy, members of the !Kung San
have earned income, causing both policymakers and the general
public to see them as more productive members of Namibian
society, which in turn makes it very difficult for them to challenge
the legitimacy of the conservancy both in terms of its land area and
as a legal body.
Historically, the !Kung San are a very non-combative people, and
have generally moved from the area when challenged. Because of
this lack of confidence in their land rights, over the last 1,000 years,
“Conservancy leaders literally travel village
by village to gain the endorsement of the
conservancy’s membership. They either
round everybody up into one place, or work
with three or four villages in a day: having
one meeting, driving three or four hours,
having another meeting. They just carry on -
sleeping in the villages and going through the
conservancy until they’re done with the full
consultation.”
Ben Begbie-Clench, Namibia Support Unit Manager
at the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in
Southern Africa (WIMSA)
Because the !Kung San do not have a hierarchically-structured
leadership system, their leaders are really more akin to chairmen
who oversee debate between the villagers. Each member over the
age of 18 is given his or her voice in making conservancy decisions.
Strengthening local rights to land
In some areas of practice, N≠a Jaqna has become a role model for
other conservancies, and exchange visits have resulted. However
in terms of national policy there has been much less influence, and
some of this should be put down the San’s marginalized social status
within the country and region, which inhibits state interaction. An
exception is the defense of land rights in N≠a Jaqna where planned
small scale farms which would dispossess the San of land and
destroy environmentally sensitive areas have been opposed through
N≠a Jaqna Conservancy by the community. Whilst this is not policy
change, it has promoted adherence to national law and a respect for
democratic processes which was not previously the case. This action
vastly strengthened the community’s knowledge of their rights and
ability to interact with the state.
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
The sustainability of the N≠a Jaqna Conservancy depends on the
people seeing the benefits of the project and wanting to be a part of
it, and the highly democratic nature of its governance is a huge factor
in its desirability. This degree of participation is perhaps not the most
cost-effective (so much travel requires fuel and vehicle upkeep), but
in the end, sacrificing the high level of democracy would prove a
greater barrier to sustainability than the increased monetary costs.
In addition, the Conservancy’s management has worked hard to
build lasting relationships with their partners. As an example, the
Conservancy does not increase their contract price annually or open
a yearly bid for partnership with other trophy hunting companies;
though in the short run, this may result in less of a profit for the
!Kung San, the mutually beneficial agreement will, over the next ten
years, provide a greater and more reliable profit in the long run.
There are certainly challenges to the Conservancy’s sustainability,
however. Though N≠a Jaqna is becoming more financially
independent through its trophy hunting contract and the sale of
Devil’s Claw, true independence from current donors would bring a
level of financial responsibility as yet unseen. The !Kung San, however,
are in a unique position for success, owing to the desirability of the
pristine quality of their beautiful and remote area as a destination
for eco-tourism.
Threats to sustainability will only increase as time goes on; the need
for farmland and grazing area only increases with Namibia’s growing
population, and changes in behavior and migration routes of game
animals could occur under the influence of global climate change –
a major threat in such an arid region. Luckily, the !Kung San of N≠a
Jaqna are strongly committed to success, for they understand the
consequences of damaging their fragile ecosystem; they understand
that there will likely be no second chance. Community participation
and private partnerships have been the key components to N≠a
Jaqna’s ongoing success, combining a democratic approach with
economic benefits. Another contributing factor is the knowledge of
the land and environment held by the participants, which has been
adapted to new ends.
REPLICATION
There has already been replication and knowledge exchange
between N≠a Jaqna and other communities and conservancies
throughout Namibia, sharing best practices in tourism activities
and land management techniques. N≠a Jaqna is one of the most
successful and well-known conservancies in Namibia, lending weight
to the conservancy approach. Additionally, there is a great deal of
knowledge exchange with not only other communities, but with
Namibian society as a whole. Learning about and understanding
the needs of tourists and visitors to the Conservancy has enabled
the !Kung San of N≠a Jaqna to adapt their methods in ways that
are both beneficial to their community and appealing to visitors –
further encouraging the sustainability of the project. In exchange,
when tourists and non-community members visit the conservancy,
they are exposed to an often unseen land of largely undisturbed
ecosystem filled with native plants and animal species, rather than
cattle or larger-scale agriculture. This exposure further underlines
the importance and effectiveness of community land management,
encouraging the growth and acceptance of the conservancy scheme
on a wider level.
There have been a number of exchange partners, including
mutual exchanges with Nyae Nyae Conservancy, other Namibian
Conservancies and a San group from Botswana. N≠a Jaqna staff have
visited a number of Conservancies in northern Namibia, and even
San groups in Angola.
There are barriers to knowledge exchange, primarily in the realm
of educational level and the steep learning curve associated with
successful conservancy management. However, the !Kung San
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community members who have a greater degree of education
have been indispensible in the process of adapting and training
the community as a whole. They have become essential leaders
who possess a cultural and traditional knowledge base lacking
in outsiders and the know-how to instruct and manage the
Conservancy successfully.
PARTNERS
The N≠a Jaqna Conservancy is a unique partnership between the
Namibian government, the World Bank, international NGOs, and
private business. This diverse partnership arrangement is critical for
the continued success of the project, bringing stakeholders together
from many different sectors around the world. In this way, global
expertise melds with local on-the-ground knowledge to create a
sustainable and replicable initiative.
Most critical in this partnership is the support of the Namibian
government, the UNDP GEF-Small Grants Program, international
NGOs, and Eden Trophy Hunting (a privately-owned business). Other
partners include:
• Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa
(WIMSA)
• Ministry of Environment and Tourism
• World Wildlife Fund
• DED (German Development Service; now GIZ)
• Namibian Association of Norway (NAMAS)
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104

PASTORALIST INTEGRATED
SUPPORT PROGRAMME
Kenya
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Swahili
On the arid rangelands of the Marsabit area of northern Kenya, the livelihoods of
pastoralist groups are subject to threats from overgrazing, land use change, social
instability, and climate change. Pastoralist Integrated Support Programme (PISP), a local
NGO, has worked since 1996 to increase the number of water points that can provide
safe and reliable water for livestock and people, while strengthening conservation of
key wildlife species in Marsabit National Park and the wider area.
Efforts to improve grazing management and to diversify the income stream of
pastoralists have helped to reduce pressure on natural resources and thereby lessen
tensions between resource user groups, while the group has also held community
dialogues and encouraged shared maintenance of water infrastructure to effectively
address the ecological and economic stresses that threaten the pastoralist way of life.

Background and Context
Pastoralist Integrated Support Programme (PISP) is a nongovernmental
organization based in the greater Marsabit area of
northern Kenya. PISP works to reduce poverty and vulnerability to
drought among the pastoralist communities in one of Kenya’s most
arid and isolated areas by providing innovative water-sanitation
solutions, livelihoods development activities, educational support
and conflict management programs.
PISP conducts its work in north-central Kenya’s Marsabit, Laismis
and Chalbi districts, where 97 per cent of the land is classified
as rangeland. The landscape there is mostly composed of arid
and semi-arid plains dominated by bushland, shrubland, annual
grasslands, and barren areas dotted with inselbergs (isolated rock
hills that rise abruptly from the surrounding plain), volcanic cones,
and calderas (another volcanic feature). Montane forests, mist forests
and perennial grasslands dominate the peaks and slopes of region’s
three extinct volcanoes: Mount Kulal (2,230m), Mount Marsabit
(1,700m) and the Hurri Hills (1,310m).
The majority of the region receives an average of about 300mm of
rainfall annually, while highland areas often get well over twice that
amount. Over the last fifty years, there has been a significant decline
in the overall amount of rainfall, but precipitation is known to vary
widely from year to year. Climate change has the potential to intensify
this annual variability and increase the frequency of extreme weather
events, including drought and flooding. Groundwater and surface
water move east towards the Jubba River Basin, west towards Lake
Turkana, and north towards the Chalbi Desert.
The pastoralist lifestyle
The Burji, Gabra and Rendille peoples engage in some limited
agricultural activities in the Mount Marsabit area. However, the
majority of the area’s inhabitants, notably the Gabra, Konso, Wata
and Borana ethnic groups, are almost exclusively pastoralist, both
by tradition and necessity. Pastoralist systems evolved as a strategy
for people to adapt both socially and ecologically to the northern
Kenya’s harsh landscape. Various features of pastoralist life allow
people to prepare for, cope with, recover from, and adapt to both
internal and external stresses and shocks. Communities manage
drought reserve pastures and water sources to help minimize animal
losses during drought. Traditional herega committees govern access
to shallow wells. Households aim to keep diverse herds, because
while cattle need water every two days, smaller animals can go four
days without water, and camels can survive up to ten or even eleven
days. This enables camels to graze up to 50 km away from water
sources and makes them the most drought-resistant members of
family herds.
Though sensitive to water shortage, cattle are important to survival.
Milk accounts for over 60 per cent of a pastoralist household’s food
consumption. At times when milk production decreases, blood is
mixed in with milk and small stock are butchered for meat or can
be sold or traded for commodities such as maize meal, sugar and
tea. In order to split risks, conserve pasture in inhabited areas, and
attend to family needs a small subsistence milk herd generally
grazes near home while the remaining animals are sent to graze afar
in more abundant pastures. These patterns of mobility, flexibility
and adaptation have traditionally sustained the pastoralists of the
Marsabit region, which is home to approximately 144,739 people,
150,000 cattle, 460,000 sheep, 360,000 goats, 100,000 camels, 20,000
donkeys and 20,000 poultry.
Patterns of mobility have historically allowed for pasture sites to
recover for several seasons between uses. Pastoralists generally
graze their animals in the highland areas at times when rain is
abundant. There, perennial grasses such as dichanthium insculptum,
broadleaf herbaceous plants including cammelina africana and
cameliana benghalensis, and trees such as acacia tortilis and barleria
proxima provide desirable forage for livestock. However, highland
water access becomes a problem in the dry season, necessitating
movement to arid low-lying areas where scattered permanent
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springs and reliable groundwater are more readily available.
Once in the dry plains, livestock rely on annual grasses and sedges
including Aristida spp., digitaria sp., D. velutina, eragrostis, and
chloris virgate. Much of the area’s wildlife follows similar seasonal
movements as pastoralists and their livestock. East African oryx
(oryx besia), the endangered Grevy’s zebra (equus grevyi), gerenuk
(litocranius walleri), ostrich (struthio camelus), Grant’s gazelle (nanger
granti), reticulated giraffe (giraffa camelopardalis), lion (panthera leo),
leopard (panthera pardus), cheetah (acinonyx jubatus) and elephants
(loxodonta africana) are all found in the region. Of these, elephants
have the most precarious relationship with their human neighbors;
they are frequently reported as causing crop destruction and killing
both livestock and humans.
In recent years, the pastoralist lifestyle and the fragile ecosystem of
northern Kenya have come under great pressure from an increase in
the frequency and seriousness of both manmade and environmental
shocks and stresses. Cyclical insecurity, population growth, livestock
disease and theft, rainfall and pasture variability, and droughts
(most recently in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005/6, 2007/8, and 2011)
have all undermined essential traditional pastoralist institutions
and practices. Along with the failure of conventional development
policy to consider the ecological and economic sustainability of
the pastoral production system, these factors have encouraged the
rapid growth of human settlements in arid lowlands for easy access
to permanent water sources, food aid and some basic educational
and health services. The security of settlements is also an attractive
feature, as the threat of armed raids and an influx of illegal firearms
have put large amounts of prime grazing lands off limits. These
trends combined have put great stress on permanent water sources
and the fragile pasture surrounding settlements. With the challenges
that have come about from increased sedentarization, the ecological
and economic sustainability of mobile pastoralism in such an arid
region is increasingly clear.
The operating area of PISP is one of the poorest in Kenya and has
some of the lowest human development indicators in the country,
with 62 children out of every 1000 dying before their fifth birthday
in Marsabit. Approximately one quarter of children ages between six
and five years are moderately or severely stunted, an indication of
chronic undernourishment. The district’s 2005-2015 strategic plan
indicates that 86 per cent of the population is classified as food poor,
and that much of the population is reliant on food aid. 73 per cent of
households spend an hour or more collecting water every day, and
in most households, this responsibility falls to women. Only half of
the population has access to improved sources of water for drinking,
and even more than this have no sanitary facilities and use the bush
or fields to dispose of human waste.
Some challenges are exacerbated by the failure of conventional
development interventions to consider the unique constraints of the
pastoralist lifestyle. For example, 62 per cent of school-aged children
attend school, but enrollment and retention rates at secondary
schools tend to be low. These numbers can be attributed partially to
an education system that is not well suited to the mobile pastoralist
lifestyle. Very few companies have developed financial services to
meet the needs of a highly mobile population with livestock as its
primary form of collateral, with the result that most pastoralists rely
on livestock not just for food, but as a form of savings and insurance.
Unfortunately, geographic isolation makes it difficult and expensive
for local products to gain access to markets. Pastoralists rarely get
satisfactory prices for their livestock, and so selling often becomes
a last resort in times of true emergency, when markets are already
depressed. Greater Marsabit lacks basic infrastructure. There are
no tarmac or all-weather roads, nor is there any system of public
transport.
Initially, PISP formed in response to community concerns about water
supply and management. The urgency of these concerns came to
light during a Participatory Rural Appraisal exercise conducted by
community members and Gabra elders in the small town of Turbi
by Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) in the early
1990s. Turbi’s nearest permanent and reliable water source was 32 km
away, which was typical of many small towns in the area at the time.
With the help of the area Member of Parliament, elders in the area
banded together to establish and register PISP as a local NGO in 1996.
From its initial focus on water-related activities, PISP has expanded
to engage in a more comprehensive set of programs that combine
innovative and indigenous strategies to help pastoralist communities
adapt to climate change, reduce poverty, and protect their fragile
ecosystem.
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Key Activities and Innovations
The initial focus of PISP was on assessing local needs and providing
water-related assistance to communities. To this end, in 1997, the
elders who were heavily involved in the formation of PISP began
traveling throughout Kenya, seeking knowledge about water
technologies that could be useful in Marsabit. They returned home
armed with new techniques for building underground rainwater
harvesting tanks, sand dams and siphon pumps. Since this initial trip,
the construction, improvement and rehabilitation of water facilities
and provision of safe water during emergencies have been the major
focus of PISP’s work.
Improving access to water
Beyond simply constructing water sources, PISP trains local artisans
in the maintenance and upkeep of water sources and includes elders
in discussions about how new water sources should be managed and
shared. Oftentimes, this process includes the establishment of Water
Users’ Associations modeled on traditional management systems
and the education of local people on hygiene and sanitation. During
droughts in 1997, 2000 and 2005/6, PISP provided tankered water to
120 communities experiencing acute water stress, reducing pressure
on water sources and pasture in heavily populated areas. To shield
the most vulnerable from the severity of depressed markets during
drought in 2006, PISP bought and slaughtered livestock that were
not expected to survive the crisis. This provided at-risk families with
income to better survive the drought, provided meat as a dietary
supplement to the needy, and decreased the overall environmental
stress on pasture and water sources by reducing overall herd size.
Poverty reduction
In recent years, PISP has evolved to take on a more comprehensive set
of programs to reduce vulnerability and poverty amongst pastoralists.
In particular, PISP has begun favoring long-term programming that
builds community capacity and resilience to disasters over the isolated
delivery of costly and unsustainable emergency response programs.
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The organization’s livelihood support and development programs
range from livestock development and natural resource management
to microcredit activities. PISP facilitates extension services to
ensure the control of livestock diseases and provides pastoralists
with improved market information and linkages. Community
trainings address range management challenges, in particular,
addressing pasture depletion and environmental degradation.
PISP also encourages pastoralists to diversify their livelihoods. In
communities where most people’s wealth is traditionally held in the
form of livestock, this can mean diversification of the herd. Since
2006, hundreds of drought- and raid-affected families have received
camels from PISP to improve their family’s resistance to water stress.
In other cases, PISP has helped people who do not have access to
formal banking systems get credit for establishing environmentally
friendly microenterprises.
Conflict management and peace building
Conflict management and peace building activities make up an
additional programming area for PISP. This is essential in order
for pastoralists to make use of productive rangeland that goes
underused or unused due to insecurity or conflict. By holding
community dialogues and engaging in shared programming across
warring communities, PISP endeavors to address the economic and
ecological stress that is caused and exacerbated by breakdowns in
security that threaten human and herd mobility.
Investing in education
In support of its broader development objectives for the region, PISP
supports educational activities in several ways. The organization
has built two schools that serve students from two of the most
marginalized communities in Marsabit. PISP has also supported
students through the provision of educational materials, high school
scholarships, and infrastructure development in schools. To extend
educational opportunity to children in mobile pastoral families
who cannot participate in the sedentary formal education system,
PISP has also established shepherd classes and mobile schools. By
investing in education, PISP is engaged in trying to build human
capital in the local community for the future.
a participatory strategic planning process, which recently stressed
goals for developing further organizational capacity in the form of
staff and board expertise, regular financial planning and reviews, and
investment in technology to enhance management and outcomes.
The organization regularly works in partnership with the Kenyan
government’s Arid Lands Resource Management Project, District
Steering Group, and Water Services Board. Recently, PISP has
become a member of the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous
Peoples (WAMIP), a global alliance of nomadic people concerned
with sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity.
Combining traditional and modern methods
PISP is unique in its successful integration of traditional resource
management methods with the introduction of new water
technologies such as underground rainwater tanks and sand dams
in the Marsabit region. Underground rainwater harvesting tanks
capture surface runoff from foothills to be used for watering wildlife
and livestock. The cylindrical design PISP builds makes use of locally
available masonry stones capped with a dome-shaped concrete
shell. Sand dams are another low-cost, low-maintenance form of
rainwater harvesting, particularly well suited to the region’s dry
climate. By building a barrage across a sandy riverbed, the structure
captures runoff as well as eroded sand. The sand then acts as a type
of filter and slows the rate of evaporation as compared to open water
surfaces. Nearby wells tend to see improve d levels of groundwater.
During floods, sand dams protect downstream ecosystems by
regulating overflow. Their design also protects against waterborne
diseases and the breeding of disease vectors.
Governance structure
Since its formation in 1996, PISP has relied heavily on community
involvement for the direction, staffing and leadership of the
organization. Yaa Galbo, one of the five traditional councils of the
Gabra ethnic group, was active in founding the organization. Early
on, staff worked as unpaid volunteers for months before PISP
obtained funding. Several Yaa Galbo elders initially served on the
board of directors and insisted that PISP serve all pastoralists in the
area, encompassing people from ten different ethnic groups. The
organization’s staff and active board of directors frequently consult
and deliberate with traditional institutions, taking into account clan
structures and ultimately acting in partnership. Traditionally, the
governance of water sources and any other decisions concerning
collective resources can involve Yaa councils, well owners, group
elders and meetings at all levels of nomadic camps. PISP engages in
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Many development approaches have made pastoral communities
more vulnerable to environmental shocks and stresses by
discouraging traditional mobile approaches in favor of
sedenterization. Overgrazing and land degradation only tend to
happen when such policies or historical events constrain pastoral
groups or result in the abandonment of traditional land management
methods. Livestock contribute to the overall fertility of grazing lands,
and their guts play an active role in transporting and fertilizing
seeds. Systematic resource use and management techniques protect
against overgrazing and allow vulnerable grassland areas adequate
recovery time between uses.
PISP seeks to protect dryland biodiversity through the encouragement
of mobile pastoralism, which is an efficient livelihood and sustainable
land management strategy in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. The
provision of small and numerous reliable water sources encourages
greater herd mobility, and the organization’s involvement in conflict
resolution aims to open up previously-disputed territories for safe
use by humans and livestock. All of this reduces the stress on natural
resources near heavily populated areas.
PISP also works to encourage and strengthen the traditional
resource management methods of communities. For example, the
Banos council of elders in the Rendille community in Marsabit makes
determinations about grazing patterns and the preservation of
riverine and forested sites. PISP uses its provision of water assistance
as a way of working with the council to better manage resources,
in particular, fragile pasture near lowland water sources, to prevent
degradation.
In addition to encouraging the reintroduction of traditional
community-based resource management, PISP also strengthens
biodiversity with some of its uses of water technologies. Some of the
rain water harvesting techniques utilized by PISP raise the overall
water content of the area, improving the moisture available for wild
plant and animal life as well as for humans and livestock. Sand dams
tend to recharge riverbanks, allowing for tree planting and reducing
the erosion caused by major rainstorms.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The work of PISP on water sources has had a significant impact on
the wellbeing of people served in the project area. The organization
reports that by 2008, it had improved 100 existing shallow wells,
and constructed 63 underground rainwater harvesting tanks, two
earth pans, 25 above-ground water tanks for schools, 50 sand
dams, and five rock catchments. A greater number of reliable water
sources, particularly near strategic highland and other desirable
pasture, enhances the mobility of herds. With secure, reliable water
points available afar, the majority of the herd can move away from
settled areas, providing less grazing competition for milk herds and
contributing to household food security. Improved water access
also leads to a decrease in the loss of small stock (goats and sheep),
which are the most water-dependent of common livestock.
More numerous water sources also mean that women, who tend
to be responsible for household water collection, travel shorter
distances and spend less time collecting water, enabling them to
turn their attention and energy to other concerns. More durable
water sources save time for men also, because they spend less time
rehabilitating collapsed wells following each rainy season. Improved
water sources reduce the likelihood of contamination and disease
as well. By encouraging the reinstatement of traditional resource
management methods and establishing and training Water Users’
Associations, PISP has encouraged community responsibility for the
sustainability of vital resources.
The organization argues that taking care of resource scarcity
will, in turn, enhance food security, build community resilience,
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and contribute to peace building efforts. For example, the Turbi
Massacre of 2006 saw 96 people killed and the loss of over 10,000
goats and sheep, 2,000 cattle and 1,200 camels to raiding. Many
of the affected were among 600 families that PISP restocked with
900 head of female camels, to replace losses and diversify herds.
Beyond this, 800 drought- and conflict-affected households have
received load camels, significantly improving water access and
herd mobility. Camels have reduced the need to trucking water
during emergencies and also lower the death rate of small stock.
Unlike other livestock, camels’ milk production is unaffected during
drought conditions, providing a nutritious and reliable source of
food year-round. By increasing the percentage of camels in their
herds, pastoralists improve family food security. At times, PISP gives
camels to needy families, but in other cases it exchanges them for 30
to 40 sheep or goats.
In addition to herd diversification, PISP has extended microcredit
opportunities to 13 groups of pastoralists in order to provide
them with alternative sources of income and diversified livelihood
opportunities. These individuals have access to a revolving credit
fund that has grown to about 4 million Kenyan shillings (nearly USD
40,000 US).
Beyond the two schools the organization has built, PISP has supported
an additional 17 primary and secondary schools by building roof
catchment systems since 1998. These roof tanks benefit students
throughout the year and the entire community during drought,
because in true emergencies they serve as reservoirs for tankered
water. PISP provides academic scholarships to 100 promising high
school students, conducts five shepherd classes, and has established
six mobile schools.
POLICY IMPACTS
PISP participates in policy-making and implementation through its
working relationships with several government entities, including
the Arid Lands Resource Management Project, District Steering
Group, and Water Services Board. Recently, PISP has also found a
voice on the international level, as a member of the World Alliance
of Mobile Indigenous Peoples (WAMIP), a global alliance of nomadic
people concerned with sustainable livelihood and biodiversity. The
CEO of PISP serves as the elected president of WAMIP, and the former
CEO is an elected Member of Parliament for the project area.
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
As it has from the beginning, PISP relies heavily on donor funds to
carry out its activities, though its list of external supporters has grown
over time to include the UK’s Department for International Aid (DFID),
SNV World, the Catholic Organisation for Relief and Development
Aid (CORDAID), the Intermediate Technology Development Group
(ITDG – now known as Practical Action), the Japanese Embassy,
Water Aid, and the Community Development Trust Fund. This
expansion of support has enabled PISP to diversify its programming
and avoid relying too heavily on a single donor to fund activities. The
organization now has 21 paid employees, owns its permanent office
block, has developed a website, and is equipped with computers,
motorbikes, trucks, Land Cruisers and a satellite phone.
As for the sustainability of program activities in communities, water
sources constructed and improved by PISP are intended to be
managed and sustained by local people. To ensure this, PISP has
concentrated on construction and improvement of water sources
that are more easily managed by the community than boreholes,
which can stress limited ground water supplies and have wearing
parts that can be prohibitively expensive to repair.
The organization has trained Water Users’ Associations to manage
water sources and has provided 21 local artisans with technical
training in the maintenance of water sources. PISP has also ensured
that the necessary supplies for construction and repairs are available
at the local level. For example, since underground rainwater
harvesting can be built using locally available masonry stones, the
community can sustain and even replicate these water sources.
Tackling sedentarization
PISP takes the stance that if water sources are small, numerous and
geographically dispersed, they will encourage greater mobility and
reduce overgrazing. However, it will be a continuing challenge that
more reliable water sources may encourage traditional pastoralists
to settle into a more sedentary lifestyle. This concern, combined
with population growth, strains the delicate social and ecological
balance of the traditional pastoralist system and remains a constant
consideration for PISP and the communities it serves.
REPLICATION
Since its formation in 1996, PISP has expanded its reach over the
greater Marsabit area. The organization has plans to open a field
office in the North-Horr division of the district in order to better reach
a greater number of nomadic pastoralists. By continuing to expand
its services, both geographically and thematically, PISP encourages
the continuation of mobile pastoralism as a viable method of
sustainable livelihood and land management.
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PARTNERS
• The Government of Kenya
• The European Commission Humanitarian Organization
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(UN FAO)
• The Catholic Organization for Relief and Development Aid
• Community Development Trust Fund
• United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF)
• The UK’s Department for International Aid (DFID)
• Oxfam GB
• Canadian International Development Agency
• Caritas Austria
• The Japanese Embassy in Kenya
• The International Institute for Rural Reconstruction
• United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (UNOCHA)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Netherlands Development Organization (SNV)
• HelpAge International
• Africa Oil Corporation
• Kenya Community Development Foundation
• Maji Na Ufanisi (MNU)
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114

SHINYANGA SOIL
CONSERVATION
PROGRAMME (HASHI)
Tanzania
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Swahili
The Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme, better known by its Swahili acronym
HASHI (Hifadhi Ardhi Shinyanga) ran from 1986 to 2004, with the aim of restoring the
degraded Shinyanga region of northwest Tanzania. Christened the “Desert of Tanzania”
in the mid-1980s by President Julius Nyerere, the region’s miombo woodland had been
decimated by decades of forest clearing (partly for tsetse fly eradication) and forced
resettlement under Tanzania’s “villagisation” programme.
The intervention brought together an array of government and international partners,
but recognized that the key to the area’s reforestation lay in putting local communities
at the forefront of these efforts. A traditional system of enclosures, or ngitili, was
reintroduced, and Sukuma agro-pastoralists were given responsibility for conserving
forest plots. The result was that by 2004, at least 350,000 hectares of ngitili had been
restored or created in 833 villages across the region.

Background and Context
Lying south of Lake Victoria, the Shinyanga Region of northwest
Tanzania is dominated by a semi-arid landscape, home to almost
three million people, with a high population density of 42 people per
square kilometre. Shinyanga is one of Tanzania’s poorest regions, its
low hills and plains characterized by long dry summers with only 700
mm of rainfall a year on average. The predominant tribe in the region
is the Sukuma, agro-pastoralists whose major crops include maize,
sorghum, millet, cassava, cotton, and rice. Over 80 percent of the
population owns and manages livestock on communal rangelands.
Between 1986 and 2004, the region was the setting for the Shinyanga
Soil Conservation Programme, better known by its Swahili acronym
HASHI (for Hifadhi Ardhi Shinyanga.) HASHI was initiated by
President Julius Nyerere after he visited the region in 1984 and
was shocked by the extent of deforestation. By the mid-1980s,
Shinyanga had become known as the “Desert of Tanzania’. Decades
of unsustainable land management practices had exacerbated the
region’s environmental decline, but the roots of this degradation
lay in a pre-Second World War forest clearing program. Shinyanga
had previously been extensively covered in miombo and acacia
woodlands, which provided fodder for livestock and fuel for Sukuma
agro-pastoralists. These forests also acted as a reservoir for the tsetse
fly, however, which transmitted a parasitic disease, trypanosomiasis,
to both humans and cattle. In the 1920s, the colonial authorities
instituted a programme through which local people were paid to
cut down large areas of woodland. This was largely successful in
eradicating the tsetse fly, and also opened up new grazing land for
the Sukuma, but vastly impacted the ecological health of the region.
As populations of human and livestock rapidly increased in the latter
half of the twentieth century, demand for fuelwood and cropland
also increased. This led to the overgrazing of pasture and woodland,
while large areas of land were devoted to growing cash crops such
as cotton and tobacco, leaving little land for growing food crops.
Additionally, President Nyerere’s 1970s “villagisation” programme
forced families to abandon homesteads and move into newly
created settlements.
Loss of an indigenous resource management system
These trends led to the erosion of an ancient system of land
management that the Sukuma had used to conserve livestock
fodder for the dry season. This system, known as ngitili, entailed
enclosures of fodder reserves for use by individual households or
communities by maintaining an area of standing fodder until the
next rains. Ngitili are divided into sections; each section is completely
grazed before the next is opened. Family or individual reserves are
established on an individual’s land; communal reserves can be made
on any land suitable for dry-season grazing. Communal ngitili are
often found along riverbeds and hill areas. Under the traditional
land system, ownership and management of land tenure rights over
ngitili and land in Shinyanga were governed by local by-laws. The
introduction of the Villages and Ujamaa Villages Act in 1975 meant
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household assets – including houses, farms, and ngitili – were often
abandoned by households moving to collective settlements. The
new village pattern, although administratively advantageous, made
traditional adaptation to local ecological conditions more difficult.
These conditions were simultaneously worsening due to continued
population growth and the expansion of cultivated areas. In turn,
these factors resulted in two distinct challenges: rapid deterioration
in soil condition, and a shortage of wood for fuel. Many households
had to travel more than ten kilometres to gather firewood, a task
typically carried out by women.
HASHI: a lasting legacy in Shinyanga
By the mid-1980s, only 600 hectares of documented ngitili remained.
Beginning in 1986, Hifadhi Ardhi Shinyanga revived this system to
promote the restoration of vegetation in protected enclosures. By
the close of the project in 2004, at least 350,000 hectares of ngitili,
including private woodlots, had been restored or created in 833
villages, encompassing a population of 2.8 million rural dwellers.
The programme was run and mostly funded by the Tanzanian
government, along with significant long-term support from the
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and the
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). The striking success of the project
stemmed from the rich ecological knowledge and strong traditional
institutions of the region’s Sukuma agro-pastoralists, however. In
2004, the programme was officially succeeded by the Natural Forest
Resources Management and Agroforestry Centre (NAFRAC), but the
ngitili system remains in place. Ngitili are currently thought to cover
as much as 500,000 hectares of land.
Benefits of ecosystem restoration resulting from the HASHI project
include higher household incomes from agro-pastoralism, better
diets, and greater livelihood security for families in the region.
Biodiversity has benefited too, with increases in tree, shrub, grass,
and herb varieties, as well as bird and mammal species. Many herb
varieties have been harvested for sale locally for their medicinal uses.
Farmers have also benefitted from improved agroforestry practices,
such as planting nitrogen-fixing species that have helped to increase
agricultural productivity. The HASHI project and its international
partners also trained more than 150 teachers to help raise awareness
of environmental issues in the region’s village schools.
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Key Activities and Innovations
Prior to the inception of HASHI, attempts at reforestation launched
by Tanzania’s government and development agencies such as
the World Bank had largely failed to stem the loss of indigenous
woodland in Shinyanga. The HASHI project’s approach differed to
previous attempts in its emphasis on working closely with local
people, first to identify areas requiring urgent land restoration, and
then to restore them according to customary practice. Field officers
employed by the Division of Forestry and Beekeeping in the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Tourism worked closely with both district
government staff and village government authorities.
Combining local knowledge and international assistance
The early success of the project was also boosted by external
technical and financial assistance. By 1987, HASHI was operational,
and by 1989 it had attracted additional long-term support from
the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).
Technical guidance and information was also provided by the
Nairobi-based International Centre for Research in Agroforestry
(ICRAF), known as the World Agroforestry Centre since 2002. ICRAF
studies had documented appropriate vegetation and grazing
management practices, and noted the important role played
by traditional knowledge and local institutions such as ngitili in
successful land management.
Initial project objectives
The project initially comprised reforestation activities and
environmental awareness-raising. In most villages, HASHI field
officers used residual natural seed and root stock to restore ngitili
enclosures. In others, active tree planting (first of exotic species, later
of the indigenous tree species preferred by local people) was carried
out, especially around homesteads. Some of the restored ngitili
dated back to pre-villagisation days, while others were newly created
by farmers and villages. In addition to restoring ngitili, villagers were
encouraged to plant trees around homesteads (particularly fruit
and shade trees), field boundaries, and farm perimeters. This helped
improve soil fertility and provide firewood, and had the benefit of
helping to demarcate farmers’ land and formalize land rights within
villages.
Environmental awareness was increased and villagers were
empowered through a variety of different tools. These included
video, theatre, newsletters, and workshops to demonstrate the
links between soil conservation, forest restoration, and livelihood
security. Participatory rural appraisal methods helped villagers to
identify local natural resource problems and agree on solutions.
Farmers and villagers received training in how to best manage their
ngitili. For example, HASHI and ICRAF technicians provided advice
on which indigenous species were best suited to enrich farms soils
or create dense boundary plantings.
Organic growth and scaling of the initiative
Sufficiently equipped with scientific knowledge, and actively
engaged in revitalising a traditional practice, village communities
across Shinyanga gradually broadened the use of ngitili from soil
and fodder conservation to production of a wide range of woodland
goods and services. Products such as timber, fodder, fuelwood,
medicinal herbs, wild fruits, honey, and edible insects enhanced
livelihoods and provided a vital safety net during dry seasons and
droughts. This flexibility in the application of ngitili probably helped
to widen its appeal and increase its uptake rate. While restoration
efforts initially proceeded gradually, restoration efforts had begun to
spread rapidly through the region by the early 1990s.
Reforestation rooted in local capacity and institutions
The widespread success of the HASHI approach has been put down
to its high level of community empowerment, unusual among other
1980s rural development programmes. The use of ngitili as the
vehicle for restoration efforts, and the involvement of traditional
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Sukuma institutions and village governments to oversee the process
helped to ensure this success. Elected village governments officially
managed communal ngitili, and also acted as final arbiter in disputes
regarding individually owned ngitili, while in practice traditional
institutions played an equally important role in most villages. For
example, while each village set its own rules for ngitili restoration and
management, most also used traditional community guards known
as Sungusungu and community assemblies known as Dagashida to
enforce them. The Dagashida is led by Sukuma elders, and decides
which sanctions to impose on individuals caught breaking ngitili
management rules, for example by grazing livestock on land set
aside for regeneration.
The rules in place to ensure the management of ngitili are backed
by monetary fines (mchenya). In one village, herders caught grazing
cattle illegally inside an ngitili are fined 20,000 Tanzanian shillings
(approximately USD 14). There is a similar penalty for illegally felling
a tree inside an ngitili. For more serious crimes, such as burning
vegetation in an enclosed area, pastoralists are fined a live cow,
which is then slaughtered. If disputes can’t be adjudicated by the
Dagashida, they can be referred to the lower judicial and district
courts for resolution.
While the creation of ngitili areas was not always entirely democratic
in every village, the overall trend was one of increasing local
responsibility and accountability of these local institutions. HASHI
field officers worked to strengthen these official and traditional
governance institutions using the provisions of Tanzania’s 1999
Village Land Act, which allowed village governments to approve bylaws
that legally enshrine the conservation of local ngitili. Such bylaws,
once ratified at the district level, were recognized as legitimate
by the national government.
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Increasing biological diversity was not the principal objective of the
Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme, with the emphasis instead
on improving agricultural productivity in the region. However,
restoring the goods and services provided by woodlands through
the regeneration and planting of indigenous trees has also led to the
regeneration of a variety of tree species, as well as grasses and herbs.
Some fauna species have also returned to the area.
Extent of reforestation through enclosures
In 1986, about 600 hectares of documented ngitili enclosures
existed in Shinyanga. A survey of 172 sample villages in the late
1990s revealed 18,607 ngitili (284 communal, the rest owned
by households) covering roughly 78,122 hectares. Based on this
sample, HASHI project managers estimated that more than 350,000
hectares of land in Shinyanga were in use as ngitili, with nine in ten
inhabitants of Shinyanga’s 833 villages enjoying access to ngitili
goods and services. A more recent history of the project conducted
by the World Agroforestry Centre has claimed that the extent of
ngitili has been underestimated in official records, with a likely total
of more than 500,000 ha of land currently in enclosures.
Approximately 60% of the ngitili are privately owned, with the rest
being managed by village governments or institutions such as
schools, community-based organizations, churches, and mosques. It
is estimated that some 90% of the farmers who keep livestock, and
50% of crop growers, now have their own ngitili. They vary greatly
in terms of both their size and maturity. In the eastern part of the
region, an area of relatively low rainfall, ngitili of 500 ha are quite
common, but in the more populous central and western areas,
where there is more rainfall, they may be less than a few hectares in
size. In 2003, communal enclosures averaged 164 hectares in size,
while individual plots averaged 2.3 hectares.
Improved diversity of flora and fauna
The project has benefitted a total of 152 different species of trees
and shrubs, predominantly through the restoration of young
trees in ngitili where previously scrub wasteland had stood. More
than 60 species of tree have been used by local people for various
purposes, including medicines, fruits and vegetables, fuelwood,
timber, handicrafts, fodder, fencing, thatch, and shelter. Thirteen
grass genera and twenty-five herb genera are now commonly found
in restored areas of vegetation. Communal ngitili help to restore
degraded areas on hills and river edges, reduce soil erosion, and
conserve catchment areas.
Wildlife has in some cases returned to the area, especially in the case of
birds, thanks to improved miombo and acacia forest cover for nesting. A
total of 145 bird species are now found in Shinyanga that were previously
locally rare or extinct, including seven restricted-range species. Hyenas
and other mammal species such as wild pigs, deer, hare, and rabbits are
now also common, which has resulted in some cases of human-wildlife
conflict. In general, however, the costs of wildlife damage, estimated at
an average USD 63 per family per year in 2004, are greatly outweighed
by the economic gains from ngitili in most villages.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Quantitative benefits: The social and economic benefits of ngitili¬based
vegetation restoration were quantified by a ten-person task
force launched by the Tanzanian government and IUCN in 2004,
which combined detailed field research among 240 households in
12 villages with market surveys and other data analysis to measure
HASHI’s positive impacts. This study estimated the cash value of
benefits from ngitili in Shinyanga at USD 14 per person per month.
This is significantly higher than the average monthly spending per
person in rural Tanzania, which in 2004 was USD 8.50.
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Table 1: Average annual value of 16 major natural resource
products harvested from ngitili in Bukombe District
Per household USD 1,190
Per village USD 700,00
Per district USD 89.6
Table 2: Reduction in time spent collecting natural resources
Fuelwood
Poles
Thatch
Water
Fodder
Table 3: Percentage of households in seven districts across
Shinyanga using ngitili products
Diversify diet 22%
Provide animal fodder and forage 21%
Collect medicinal plants 14%
Collect fuelwood 61%
Pay for children’s education 36%
Source: Monela et al, IUCN, 2004.
2-6 hours per day
1-5 hours per harvest
1-6 hours per harvest
1-2 hours per day
3-6 hours per harvest
These cash values arise from the use of a variety of products that can
be harvested from ngitili by households. Of the 16 natural products
that are most commonly harvested, fuelwood, timber, and medicinal
plants were found to be of greatest economic value to households.
Other valuable outputs include fodder, thatch-grass for roofing, and
wild foods such as bush meat, fruit, vegetables, and honey.
Qualitative benefits – improved wellbeing: In surveyed villages, up
to 64% of households reported that they were better off due to the
benefits derived from ngitili. The task force, headed by Professor
Monela of Tanzania’s Sokoine University of Agriculture, concluded
that ngitili restoration demonstrates the importance of tree-based
natural resources to the economies of local people and offers a
significant income source to supplement agriculture, helping to
diversify livelihoods across the Shinyanga region.
The study also went on to document the associated social benefits of
income generation. Maintaining ngitili has enabled some villagers to
pay school fees, purchase new farm equipment, and hire agricultural
labour, mainly thanks to sales of timber and other wood products.
Income generated by communal ngitili, meanwhile, has been used
by community-based organisations to build classrooms, village
offices, and healthcare centres. Private ngitili can also increase a
farmer’s land value. The trend of steadily increasing numbers of
enclosures may reflect a shift from common property to private
ownership within Shinyanga.
The new abundance of fruits, vegetables, and edible insects has
also improved local health, while easy access to thatched grass has
improved housing. Raised water tables due to soil conservation have
increased water supplies within villages. The sale of many locallyavailable
medicinal plants has also proved to be a viable livelihood
option. Scientists from Heidelberg University, Germany, have worked
with HASHI researchers to document the uses of twenty popular
herbal medicines. Traditional healers in Shinyanga represent an
effective rural health care system, but the overharvesting of medicinal
plants had led to significant degradation. A local association of 32
herbalists has credited the HASHI project with protecting areas
where its members gather medicinal plants.
Villagers, particularly women, are able to save considerable time by
no longer having to walk long distances for fuelwood, fodder, and
thatch. This frees both men and women to concentrate on other
income-generating activities, while also allowing for improved
childcare. Ngitili have helped to lessen the need for agro-pastoralists
to move long distances to seek grazing during the dry season. This
has reduced livestock theft and disease. Private enclosures also
lessen the impacts of severe dry periods and droughts, thereby
enhancing the resilience of the overall system.
The sustained success of the HASHI experiment has raised the profile
and importance of both village government institutions and traditional
Sukuma authorities. Devolution of control and responsibility to the
village level has been a demonstrably important factor in the success
of HASHI. Over time, this led to increasing recognition, both in policy
and practice, of the importance of village and traditional institutions
in the sustainable management of natural resources.
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Table 4: Value of ngitili products used by households in Bukombe District (2004)
Ngitili product
% households using product in
surveyed villages
Average annual household value
(domestic use and sales) (USD)
Timber 59 71.74
Fuelwood 64 13.09
Poles 29 2.87
Withies (willow stems) 36 8.97
Water 21 34.04
Honey 14 2.39
Bush Meat 7 0.72
Edible Insects 36 0.48
Mushrooms 36 2.87
Medicinal plants 7 10.76
Thatching materials 36 2.15
Fodder 7 1.15
Vegetables 29 2.15
Fruits 43 2.87
Carpentry 14 1,021.60
Pottery 7 12.91
Total economic value, per household, per year USD 1,190.77
Source: Monela et al, IUCN, 2004.
Wigelekeko Village: a case study
Wigelekeko village in the Maswa District of Shinyanga provides a
case study for the success of ngitili-based conservation efforts. By
the mid-1980s, overgrazing and land clearance for cotton fields had
resulted in dry-season shortages of wood products, fodder, and
water for the village’s 408 households. With HASHI guidance, the
village initially set aside a total of 157 hectares of degraded land
in communal and individual ngitili. Grazing and tree-cutting was
banned in the communal ngitili for five years, and villagers grazed
their cattle only in individually owned ngitili.
When the ban ended, the communal enclosure had been regenerated
with trees and shrubs. The village government and HASHI field
officers then drew up a simple management system that allowed for
controlled collection of firewood through tree pruning and limited
dry-season grazing. Farmers were allowed to grow food crops in
small patches, but with strict soil conservation measures. Protection
of the communal ngitili was carried out through Sungusungu and
communally agreed village by-laws.
In 1997, the villagers decided to expand the enclosure by 20 hectares
in order to build a small reservoir to store water for domestic and
livestock use. Each household contributed USD 4 to build the dam,
which was completed in 1998. A year later, the reservoir was providing
water continuously, with the value of its domestic water supply
estimated at USD 26,500 a year. Water for livestock contributed even
more value: an estimated USD 92,500 per year for sustaining about
1,900 cattle. In 2000, fishing was introduced in the reservoir, further
contributing to local livelihood security. A Wigelekeko water users
group manages the dam and, with the village assembly’s approval,
sells excess water to outsiders. In 2001, such sales raised USD 250
for community development. To reduce demand on the community
ngitili, two-thirds of villagers have also planted trees on their farms,
averaging 100 saplings per hectare.
POLICY IMPACTS
As a project of the Tanzanian government, the HASHI experiment
helped to offer detailed insight into the role of biodiversity conservation
as a key component of livelihood security and poverty reduction, and
as an important facet of Tanzania’s development efforts as a whole.
HASHI acted as a precursor to policy changes in Tanzania that have
facilitated community management of natural resources. In 1998,
Tanzania approved its revised forest policy, which placed a strong
emphasis on participatory management and decentralisation. This
adopted the principle of incorporating biodiversity conservation
in management plans for multiple-use forests. Local communities
were encouraged to participate in the management of forests,
setting aside degraded forest areas to be sustainably managed. This
was subsequently reinforced in the 2002 Forest Act.
Land tenure: a critical enabling factor
One threat to the spread of the ngitili system was their ambiguous
position in Tanzanian land tenure law. Tenure insecurity, or perceived
tenure insecurity, had acted to limit expectations of private
enclosures during the 1990s, and has continued to undermine the
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chances of the HASHI project being successfully replicated in other
regions of the country. Although ngitili were formally recorded and
registered by village governments under the HASHI project, their
tenure status remains unclear under present Tanzanian law.
Villages commonly hold a village title deed to all the land within
village borders, while households receive a subsidiary title to their
privately owned farmland with the village assembly’s approval. The
remaining land is designated as communal village land, under the
management of the village government. These communal lands can
be used for communal ngitili, but it is not always clear what basis the
designation of a village ngitili has in law, and therefore what property
rights pertain. One way in which this has hampered conservation
efforts is by restricting attempts to formally protect land: village
governments and assemblies are wary of officially designating ngitili
as protected areas due to fears that the state may appropriate these
areas and manage them as public land at the district or national levels.
Tenure issues can also interfere with establishing ngitili on private
land. Private landowners who don’t have secure rights to their
land have been reluctant to establish or expand ngitili for fear of
triggering disputes within the community. In some cases, boundary
surveys have helped to obtain legally watertight communal and
individual land title deeds. Nevertheless, pressures on land from
rising human and livestock populations have made land tenure
disputes and conflicts over grazing rights more likely to occur.
Tanzania’s Land Policy of 1997 and Land and Village Land Acts of
1999 went some way to providing an enabling framework to help
villages obtain village title deeds, and individuals obtain title deeds
within village land, actively supporting the formal establishment of
ngitili. These policy changes empowered village governments to
enact village by-laws to protect their ngitili, using traditional rules
and village guards. Designating in law the specific ownership and
use-rights that pertain to communal ngitili within the overall system
of village-owned land would help to further address the tenure
problem. Formally recognizing individual and family-owned ngitili
under Tanzanian law as a separate land management category
would also help in scaling up replication of the ngitili system.
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
The HASHI project came to an end in 2004, to be replaced by the
Natural Forest Resources Management and Agroforestry Centre
(NAFRAC), based in Shinyanga. Its core activities have continued,
however, demonstrating the high degree of sustainability, local
ownership, and capacity that had been built during its eighteen-year
lifespan.
During the lifetime of the project, several efforts were made to ‘scaleup’
the activities introduced by HASHI staff and researchers from
the World Agroforestry Centre. As a result, the project eventually
benefitted tens of thousands of farming families. Since 2004, local
government staff have continued to promote agroforestry and
sustainable land management. In Shinyanga District, ‘champion
farmers’ have been identified in each ward and provided with
technical advice and materials. Since 1998, over 150 teachers
have also been trained to promote environmental issues in local
schools, supported by the District Natural Resources Officer. Two
other regions, Mwanza and Tabora, began adapting and replicating
HASHI’s empowerment methods for natural resource conservation.
One of the principal reasons for the durability of the ngitili system is
that it continues to bring tangible economic rewards to the region’s
agro-pastoralists. Woodlots have proved profitable; ngitili for
fodder yield benefits for pastoralism; and the introduction of new
agroforestry technologies such as fodder banks and grafted fruit
orchards has increased family incomes.
Energy, carbon and agriculture linkages
New projects have also helped to enhance the continued impact of
forest restoration. Local government departments have promoted
the use of fuel-efficient stoves. This has helped to take pressure
off the woodland resources, as well as reduce the amount of time
families spend searching for firewood. Upendo Women’s Group
is one of many community-based organizations promoting fuelefficient
stoves, both among its own members and in neighbouring
villages.
A recent study has highlighted the potential of Shinyanga’s
woodlands to store carbon, and a four-year project, managed by
Tanzania Traditional Energy Development and Environmental
Organization (TaTEDO), with technical input from Development
Associates Ltd (DASS), is currently exploring how local communities
could benefit from the funds that are likely to be made available for
projects through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (REDD+) schemes.
Tanzania also recently launched a new initiative to transform the
country’s agricultural sector, called “Kilimo Kwanza” (Agriculture
First.) This aims to increase the allocation of funds for agriculture,
encourage greater private sector investment, and made good use of
science and technology to support the agricultural transformation
of dryland areas. It has been suggested that this project will draw
heavily on the lessons learned from the HASHI experiment, helping
to prolong and broaden its impact in dryland agro-pastoralism in
Tanzania.
Environmental and social challenges
There are several factors which could impede the continued success,
scaling-up, and replication of the ngitili system, however. Chief
among these is rapid population growth, which has threatened to
undo much of work of the HASHI project. In 1988, the population
of Shinyanga Region was 1.77 million. By 2002, it had reached 2.8
million. Population growth is thought to have continued at around
2.9% per year, making it likely that there are at least 3 million people
living in the region, or 70% more human beings in Shinyanga than
there were when the project began. The number of livestock has also
increased at a similar rate.
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Given this context, the success of HASHI appears more significant,
but the continued growth of the rural population has seen the
exploitation and degradation of many areas of ngitili. This challenge
is compounded by an upward trend in human-wildlife conflict,
especially in the form of crop damage. One effect of population
growth and the increasing demand for land is the growth in
unregulated sales of individually-owned ngitili. There are also
increasing numbers of cases of fathers dividing their ngitili plots
between sons, reducing the size and productivity of the plots.
Farmers in Maswa District, for instance, reported in 2004 that the
diminishing size of their individual ngitili had forced them to graze
only the neediest animals during the dry season. These trends
may harm household and community resilience to unpredictable
weather patterns and other climate-related challenges.
PARTNERS
• Government of the United Republic of Tanzania: initiated the
project in 1986 under President Julius Nyerere
• Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD):
provided long-term funding support for the HASHI programme
• International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF – World
Agroforestry Centre): provided technical and scientific advice
and support to HASHI field officers
• Village and district government authorities
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126

SHOMPOLE COMMUNITY
TRUST
Kenya
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Swahili
Shompole Group Ranch covers almost 62,700 hectares of grassland and savannah in
the Magadi Division of southern Kenya. The Group Ranch, under the management
of the legally-registered Shompole Community Trust, has 2,000 registered members
representing around 10,000 Loodokilani Maasai dependents, and is legally registered to
undertake wildlife conservation within its boundaries.
Since the late 1990s, the Shompole communities have sought to generate income
from ecotourism, leveraging the ranch’s unique biodiversity values for the benefit of
local residents. The community has set aside 10,000 hectares for strict conservation,
and in partnership with a private investor manages a luxury eco-lodge that attracts
visitors from across the globe. Revenue from ecotourism has been directed through
the Shompole Community Trust into protecting and restoring the environment and
funding healthcare services, education, and water projects.

Background and Context
Shompole Group Ranch covers almost 62,700 hectares of grassland
and savannah in the Magadi Division of Kajiado District in southern
Kenya. The Group Ranch is owned by the indigenous Loodokilani
Maasai, with over 2,000 registered Group members representing
approximately 10,000 direct dependents. Formalized in accordance
with the Kenyan Land (Group Representatives) Act, the Group Ranch,
under the management of Shompole Community Trust, coordinates
the management and use of natural resources within its boundaries
for its predominantly pastoralist members.
Magadi Division of the Kajiado District lies close to the Kenyan
border with Tanzania, east of the Maasai Mara. The area is home
to a vast array of largely unspoiled natural resources, including
forests, grassland and savannah plains, and the volcanic landscapes
surrounding the alkaline Lake Magadi. Shompole Group Ranch lies
on the Nguruman Escarpment, which runs north-west from the
Tanzanian border and forms the western wall of the Great Rift Valley.
The Ewaso Ng’iro River flows southwards through the Group Ranch
from the Mau Escarpment, a major Kenyan watershed, to form
an area of wetlands known locally as the Kimur Swamp, before
eventually draining into Lake Natron in Tanzania. Ewaso Ng’iro River
is the main source of Lake Natron, an important breeding ground for
more than two million lesser flamingos, roughly 25 per cent of the
world population of this species.
The Shompole Group Ranch itself houses a diverse range of species,
including antelopes, anteaters, baboons, monkeys, cheetahs,
giraffes, leopards, lions, snakes, ostriches, zebras, and over 300 bird
species. The lands of the Group Ranch form an important migratory
corridor and dispersal area for wildlife species resident in the
Nguruman Escarpment, the Olkiramatian Group Ranch to the north,
and the Loita Hills in the greater Mara to the west.
Shompole and Olkiramatian are two of four group ranches in Magadi
Division, along with Ol Donyo Nyoike and Ol Keri. Each is responsible
for common property management for its Maasai population.
These pastoralist communities rely heavily on natural resources,
and human development in the region remains low. Environmental
challenges faced by the group ranches include long term loss of
grazing and forest cover, loss of wildlife, and severe water shortages.
Average incomes, which were already below the poverty line in
1999, are estimated to have dropped by approximately 80 per cent
during the severe drought of 2000-2001.
Origins of ecotourism in Shompole
In the late 1990s, the Shompole Group Ranch communities sought
to leverage the potential value of their land as a destination for
national and international tourists, to confront the twin problems
of low levels of development and the vulnerability of livestock and
wildlife populations to adverse weather conditions. In partnership
with international NGOs and a private investor, the Shompole
community set aside 10,000 ha as a conservation area for wildlife.
This conservation area, called the Shompole Conservancy, now
houses an ecolodge which was opened in 2000.
Investment in Shompole’s ecotourism project came from The Art
of Ventures, a private company founded by an experienced African
safari guide who had previously constructed luxury eco-lodges on
the Kenyan coast and in Tsavo Game Reserve. The Art of Ventures’
partnership with the Shompole community followed three years
of participatory workshops and consultation with community
members.
This process included site visits to successful Maasai eco-lodges
projects in Kenya, such as Il Ngwesi Group Ranch in Laikipia District.
USD 1.2 million was raised from investors to construct the ecolodge,
and a USD 190,000 grant from the European Union was used
to construct a road through the wetlands and to train community
members as game rangers.
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Organizational structure
The Shompole Community Trust is a legally recognized corporation
owned by the Maasai people and responsible for the management
of the Group Ranch. The Trust’s board is comprised of local Maasai
community leaders elected from sub-locations within the Group
Ranch. The Chairman and Secretary of the Group Ranch are elected
by 60 per cent of the Group Ranch members and are automatically
members of the Community Trust. In total there are 15 trustees, as
well as expert representatives of external partners, including the
Director of the African Conservation Centre, an African NGO that
promotes conservation research in Kenya, and a representative from
Kenya Wildlife Service.
The Shompole Conservancy is wholly owned by the Shompole
Community Trust, while the eco-lodge is managed by Maa O’Leng, a
private, limited company formed jointly by the Community Trust and
The Art of Ventures. Initially, 70 per cent of Maa O’Leng (Maasai for
‘deeply of our people’) was owned by Art Of Ventures, with 30 per cent
owned by the Group Ranch, but a deal is currently being negotiated
to allow the community to acquire 100 per cent ownership of the
eco-lodge over the next 25 years. Maa O’Leng’s management
board reflects its current shareholder make-up. Revenues from the
eco-lodge are used by the Shompole Community Trust to fund
development projects for the Group Ranch communities.
Since the initiation of the ecotourism venture, the Trust has expanded
its eco-lodge facilities, constructing new accommodation suites
at the original Nguruman Escarpment location. It also leased land
for the construction of a new eco-lodge on the banks of the Ewaso
Ng’iro River, called Loisiijo Lodge, which was opened in early 2010.
This second site is managed by tourism operator, African Latitude.
The partnership with African Latitude is based on a landlord-tenant
relationship, with a fixed amount per month paid to the Group
Ranch for the lease of the land.
“Biodiversity is an integral part of communities’ sources of wealth. It can only be
conserved if all partners across the board, local to global, harmonize their approaches
to conservation.”
Ole Petenya Yusuf Shani, Director, Maa O’leng
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Key Activities and Innovations
Ecotourism and benefit-sharing mechanisms
Ecotourism is Shompole Community Trust’s main focus, and has
generated substantial revenues for investment in local infrastructure
and development projects, while simultaneously benefitting local
ecosystems and wildlife by providing strong incentive for their
ongoing conservation through the maintenance of the Shompole
Conservancy. Ecotourism centers on the two eco-lodges – the
original lodge at Nguruman, and the newer Loisiijo Lodge.
The Nguruman lodge is situated on the edge of the escarpment,
overlooking the Great Rift Valley. It originally had capacity for twelve
guests, in six rooms, but it has since been expanded. Solar energy
provides approximately 70 per cent of all electricity needs, with the
remaining 30 per cent supplied by a generator. All of the lodge’s
water comes from a natural spring nearby.
Activities for tourists centre on the Shompole Conservancy’s rich
wildlife, which includes an abundance of mammal species, including
aardwolves, civets, servals, leopards and striped hyenas. Elephants,
lions and cheetahs are found in the wetlands and grassy plains, and
the birdlife is diverse. Shompole’s various landscapes allow a wide
range of tourist activities, including bush walks, night drives, visits to
see Lake Magadi’s flamingos, and game drives with trained rangers.
Both the Nguruman and Loisiijo lodges are targeted at the higher
end of the tourism market, with guests paying more than USD 400
per night for accommodation. A payment structure is in place to
raise revenue for conservation and for local communities. Visitors to
the Loisiijo Lodge pay a USD 15 per day conservation fee to support
the Shompole Conservancy, and a USD 30 per day ‘community fee’.
These revenues streams are directed towards conservation activities,
such as maintenance and patrolling of the Conservancy, and
community development projects respectively. Both eco-lodges are
self-sustaining enterprises, with healthy occupancy rates during the
high season.
Shompole Group Ranch’s partnership with The Art of Ventures is an
innovation in Kenya, as it was the first example of a joint venture
between a Maasai Group Ranch and a private investor. It has resulted
in substantial financial benefits for the Group Ranch. Funds from
both eco-lodges are held communally through the Community
Trust, although ongoing negotiations seek to change this revenuesharing
model to facilitate more direct distribution to individuals.
Shompole Conservancy
Running alongside the ecotourism venture is the 10,000 ha
Conservancy, which is designated solely for wildlife. Exceptions
to this rule are made during periods of extreme drought, usually
between September and December, when pastoralists are allowed
to graze their livestock within the Conservancy area. The remaining
52,700 ha of Group Ranch land is divided into three zones: a buffer
zone, surrounding the Conservancy; a wildlife dispersal area, in
which wildlife movement is not restricted by human activity; and an
area for human settlements.
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
The development of ecotourism has been instrumental in supporting
the designation of 10,000 ha as community conserved land, through
the conservation fee which funds maintenance and patrolling of
the Conservancy. The Conservancy has protected Shompole Group
Ranch’s wide range of wildlife species and in some cases regenerated
population numbers. In general, the health of livestock herds has
been of paramount importance for the Maasai communities in the
South Rift area, made more urgent by the droughts of 2000-1 and
2008-9. It has been by emphasizing the importance of ecological
integrity for the pastoralist lifestyle, rather than for biodiversity itself,
that both have been strengthened throughout the southern Rift
Valley.
Wildlife monitoring through partnership with ACC
The African Conservation Centre (ACC) has been an important
partner for Shompole in monitoring species numbers. Early studies
by ACC researchers of the impacts of the Shompole Conservancy
indicated that wildlife numbers had tripled by 2006. The research
centre has stated the benefits of the conservancies around Lake
Magadi: “Rooted in the traditional coexistence between Maasai and
wildlife, the conservancies have seen elephants return to the South
Rift, wildlife herds double, lion numbers triple and cheetahs and
wild dogs become regular visitors. The conservancies also double
as traditional grass banks that cut livestock losses in drought,
promote rotational grazing and ease competition between wildlife
and livestock” (ACC, 2012). This grass bank function of Shompole’s
conservancy was particularly important during the drought period
of 2008-2009, although this nonetheless saw an estimated 65 per
cent loss of wildlife and the decimation of cattle numbers. High rains
since then have led to substantial grassland regeneration within the
Conservancy, especially in the wetlands around Loisiijo Lodge. The
current resident elephant population is between 80 and 100, while
lion numbers have increased to around 50.
A recent ACC study, looking at elephant population and distribution
in Kenya’s South Rift Valley region between 2006 and 2010, recorded
healthy elephant herd population sightings throughout the region,
illustrating migration patterns and validating the Magadi area’s
network of community conservancies. The study attributed the
increase in elephant sightings in Magadi to the establishment of
conservancies at both Shompole and Olkiramatian (ACC, 2010).
The same study cited the importance of the South Rift Association
of Land Owners (SORALO), with which the Shompole Community
Trust is affiliated, in discouraging communities from sub-dividing
their lands, reinforcing the capabilities of the fifteen member group
ranches, and coordinating conservation efforts in the South Rift
region, as well as opening up the southern Kenyan tourism circuit.
The report also warned, however, that the increased elephant
migration in the region might lead to increased human-elephant
conflict. This quantitative research is supported by anecdotal
evidence, with Group Ranch members reporting increased numbers
of lesser kudu, hartebeests, oryx, wild dogs, and striped hyenas.
Transferring monitoring responsibilities to the Maasai
To strengthen the knowledge base for conservation in the Magadi
area, SORALO, Shompole, and the ACC together set up the South
Rift Lale’enok Resource Center. The Center is named after the
traditional practice of Maasai scouts gathering information for
herd management. Lale’enok brings together community scouts,
local resource assessors, scientists, students and conservationists to
collate information crucial to wildlife conservation and community
development in the South Rift region.
Run by the Women’s Group of Olkiramatian Group Ranch, the
Lale’enok Resource Center has pioneered new approaches to
research, conservation and rangeland development. Elephants, lions,
and striped hyenas have been collared for monitoring purposes, with
a research fee paid to the Group Ranch. All research data is shared
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with the Group Ranch, and made available to local people through
the resource centre. This is a crucial feature of research agreements,
ensuring that the Maasai benefit from the data collected, which is
not commonly seen in other cases. Much of the research has focused
on mitigating human-wildlife conflict.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Job creation
Job creation in the construction and running of the lodges has
been the chief financial benefit for Group Ranch members, with
approximately 70 per cent of permanent and temporary jobs
generated by the ecotourism venture awarded to local people. The
construction of the lodges used local labour, with a total of USD
75,000 being paid to around 1,500 Group Ranch members who
assisted in the construction of the first lodge. Shompole Community
Trust itself has eleven Group Ranch members on its payroll, while the
expansion at the Nguruman Escarpment site and the construction of
the new Loisiijo Lodge also created jobs.
World Leadership School scheme. Shompole Community Trust has
also helped local people pay medical bills through direct assistance
where necessary. Two nurses are employed using tourism revenues,
and are based in Oloika and Pakase health clinics.
POLICY IMPACTS
Shompole has been represented at both regional and national policy
levels through its participation in the Kajiado District Wildlife Forum
and the Kenya Wildlife Working Group. Much of the focus of these
forums has been on mitigating conflict between local needs and
Kenya Wildlife Service’s wildlife policies. As a successful example of
an initiative that conserves habitat while serving community needs,
Shompole has been able to share expertise and experience on this
issue. Through SORALO, Shompole Community Trust has established
close links with the African Conservation Centre and Kenya Wildlife
Service, bringing together governmental and non-governmental
bodies to monitor and conserve the area’s wildlife. Kenya Wildlife
Service has opened an office in Nairobi to advise other groups based
on Shompole’s successful example.
Revenue sharing – an evolving mechanism
Ecotourism revenues throughout the early years of operation
were estimated to be USD 2,000-5,000 per month for Shompole
Community Trust. This has since increased to USD 5,000-7,000 per
month with the growth of tourism. Under the terms of the new
contract being negotiated, total revenue to the community from
ecotourism will increase to as much as USD 37,500 per month. This
is based on a doubling of the conservation fee, accommodation
charged per bed, per night, and a conservative estimate of 30 per
cent average occupancy. During the high season, the average
monthly occupancy rate is over 65 per cent. This revenue is currently
held communally through Shompole Community Trust for use in
community development projects. In the future, however, this may
move towards a more direct disbursement of funds to individuals.
Investments in education
Benefits to community wellbeing from ecotourism can be seen
clearly in the field of education. Eight school teachers are employed
by Shompole Community Trust in local primary and nursery schools,
while between USD 5,000-10,000 in bursaries are awarded annually
to secondary school students. Shompole’s main school serves
approximately 400 students aged between seven and 15. The Danish
government recently contributed funds for the construction of a
dormitory to house 80 girls who live too far away from the school to
otherwise be able to attend on a regular basis.
Leveraging partnerships for investment
The annual Rhino Charge, an off-road motorsport competition
organized by a private company, raises almost KES 1.8m (USD 20,100)
for the Group Ranch through fees paid for the use of Group Ranch
land. A portion of this revenue has been used to build a dining hall
in a local school, using volunteers from USA schools through the
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
Shompole Community Trust’s ecotourism ventures are financially selfsustaining
and operate independently of external funding. Although
the Trust’s work has, however, benefitted from individual grants, profits
generated by the lodges cover their operating costs. Challenges to
Shompole’s continued sustainability relate primarily to infrastructure.
Local water management systems need to be improved to lessen the
impact of future droughts, and fire breaks must be established to prevent
bushfires destroying grassland, especially around the Conservancy
and the Kimur wetlands. The existing road network is also in need of
improvement. During the rainy season, Shompole is almost inaccessible,
while the seasonal road leading to Loisiijo needs improvement. Only
one bridge currently crosses the Ewaso Ngíro River between Loisiijo and
Oloika, making travel between the two communities difficult.
REPLICATION
Kenya Wildlife Service, the Ministry of Tourism, and the Ministry of
Forestry and Wildlife have all used Shompole Community Trust as a
model of successful community-based natural resource management.
Peer-to-peer learning exchanges have been conducted between
Shompole and projects in Amboseli National Park and the Maasai
Mara. This has also been facilitated by the creation of the South Rift
Association of Landowners (SORALO), which now covers 15 group
ranches and more than one million hectares of land.
SORALO’s establishment was a direct result of the success of
Shompole Group Ranch, and aimed to replicate its achievements
in neighbouring communities. The association is run by a Board of
Trustees, with a Shompole representative serving as Secretary. The
association has also appointed a Conservancy Warden and a Livestock
Officer. SORALO has functioned as a platform for knowledge sharing,
with the success of the Shompole and Olkiramatian ecotourism
ventures and natural resource management strategies serving
as examples for other groups. SORALO has achieved substantial
conservation successes within the southern Rift Valley and fostered
close interaction between neighbouring group ranches to help
secure the ecological integrity of the Magadi region as a whole.
PARTNERS
These include grants from the European Union’s Community
Development Trust Fund’s (CDTF) Biodiversity Conservation
Programme (BCP), which supported infrastructure improvements
during the initial construction phase of the Shompole lodge, and
more recently through its Community Environment Facility (CEF),
which gave a grant of two million Kenyan Shillings (approximately
USD 22,400 at 2010 exchange rates) for improvements to the lodge.
• The Art of Ventures: Partner in Maa O’Leng eco-lodge project;
has trained community members and marketed the project.
• African Latitude Community Camps: Owns and manages Loisiijo
Lodge under lease agreement from Shompole Group Ranch.
Markets the lodge as a tourist destination.
• African Conservation Centre: Has provided technical advice and
assistance in seeking funds from donors, linked the community
with private investors, and funded community capacity building
(including training workshops and in field research).
• European Union Community Development Trust Fund (CDTF)
Biodiversity Conservation Programme (BCP) and Community
Environment Facility (CEF): Funded construction of a road
through wetlands and construction and furnishing of lodges.
• Magadi Soda Company: Provided water for Oloika primary
school, and has assisted in providing bursaries and scholarships
to colleges and universities for local people.
• The government of Kenya: Has assisted through the Kenya
Wildlife Service which trained community game scouts focused
on combating poaching, and has helped with monitoring of
wildlife.
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134

ST. CATHERINE MEDICINAL
PLANTS ASSOCIATION
Egypt
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Arabic
St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association protects and cultivates native and endemic
species of medicinal plants in the St. Catherine Reserve in Sinai, while developing
alternative livelihood options for the area’s economically marginalized Bedouin population.
The reserve contains several unique and endangered medicinal plant species which have
been threatened by overharvesting, collection for use as fuel, and overgrazing.
The association promotes home gardens, provides alternative energy solutions, gives
hands-on training on sustainable harvesting techniques, and creates market supply
chains for locally produced medicinal herbs, handicrafts and honey. Alternative
livelihood programmes, focusing on women in particular, support farmers through the
process of planting through to the marketing of products. Revenues from association
activities have been invested in a rotating fund which allows community members to
access small loans.

Background and Context
The Sinai Peninsula, home to St. Catherine Medicinal Plants
Association, is the only part of Egypt’s territory located in Asia rather
than Africa, and effectively serves as a land bridge between the two
continents. St. Catherine’s Reserve is located on the southern tip of
the peninsula, encompassing almost the entire high mountainous
area of South Sinai. The reserve spans an area of 4,250 sq. km. and is
home to a population of about 6,000, primarily poor, Bedouin people.
The Bedouin population of the reserve is composed of seven distinct
Bedouin tribes, located in and around the town of St. Catherine.
The high mountains of Sinai
St. Catherine’s Reserve, an ecological and cultural heritage site, is the
Sinai Peninsula’s most biologically diverse region. The plant biodiversity
of the Sinai has been enriched by its geographic location and the
effects of long-term changes in climate. Plants found here have their
origins in several distinct floral regions. Some are relic species, which
have perished in their original Asian habitats, but survive in Sinai.
Hundreds of plant species have been recorded in the region,
including 33 that have been identified as endemic solely to the
Sinai’s high mountainous region. Notable species include the
pistachio shrub, the Sinai primrose, and Rosa Arabica, of which fewer
than 100 plants remain in the high mountains. A specimen of the
region’s Rubus sanctus, or “holy bramble”, is revered at St. Catherine’s
Monastery as the biblical burning bush of Exodus. Almost half of the
recorded plant species in the area have some medicinal, aromatic,
cosmetic or culinary use, and the local community uses local plants
to treat a range of medical disorders.
The region’s plant biodiversity is under growing pressure due to
population growth and the number of tourists visiting the area. As
the human population of the region has increased, plants have been
over-harvested for medicinal and domestic purposes, as well as for
use as fuel. Overgrazing by livestock and feral donkeys also pose
significant threats to the region’s plant life.
The region is a popular tourist destination, located in a hotspot
for biblical tourism and as home to St. Catherine’s Monastery. The
Monastery of St Catherine stands at the foot of what is believed to be
the biblical Mount Horeb where, the Old Testament records, Moses
received the Tablets of the Law. The mountain is known and revered
by Muslims as Jebel Musa. The entire area is sacred to three world
religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The Monastery, founded
in the 6th century, is the oldest Christian monastery still in use. Its
walls and buildings are of great significance to studies of Byzantine
architecture and the Monastery houses outstanding collections of
early Christian manuscripts and icons.
Community-based medicinal plants management
The origins of community-based work in St. Catherine’s Reserve lie
within a wider regional context of action for the environment. The
Medicinal Plants Conservation Project (MPCP), initiated in 2003 by
the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency and funded by the United
Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment
Facility (GEF), aims to raise the living standard of the Bedouin people
by creating local employment within St. Catherine’s Reserve based
on the sustainable management and use of medicinal plants. In 2008,
this larger, chapeau conservation project supported the launch of an
initiative for social and economic development that would engage
the community in natural resource management within the reserve.
St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association was created with the aim
of supporting the development of sustainable livelihoods activities
for the largest of the area’s Bedouin communities. With technical
and financial inputs from UNDP-GEF and MPCP staff, community
members are supported to acquire expertise in planting, harvesting,
processing, and marketing of a range of natural products. While
the prime focus of the project has been on the reserve’s relative
abundance of medicinal plant species – and by extension, the
conservation of much of St. Catherine’s unique biological diversity
– the association has also facilitated income-generating activities
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such as the production of handicrafts and bee-keeping. Much of
this work has focussed on women community members. One of the
main successes of the project has been in successfully promoting
and marketing community produce, establishing improved market
supply chains and bringing in higher incomes for members. Beyond
its initial focus, moreover, the association has evolved to meet a wide
range of community needs, including providing sustainable energy
and micro-credit options.
In designing St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association, a scenario
planning exercise was conducted by project staff, bringing together
mostly local stakeholders for a 13-day workshop to facilitate open
discussion and develop a framework for how a potential community
association would operate. A value-chain development workshop
was held in parallel, to discuss barriers and solutions to optimizing
the market supply chain of the reserve’s medicinal plants. The vision
that emerged was one of full participation of all actors in the St.
Catherine community at every stage of the production chain.
In both the planning and implementation stages of the initiative,
the focus was placed on community ownership and leadership.
All components of the initiative are owned by the community
(represented through membership of the association) and
community members are involved in all aspects of the initiative’s
activities. Approximately 50 per cent of the Bedouin community
benefits from the activities of the association through generation
of employment opportunities and development of sustainable
income. All told, it is estimated that the medicinal plants value
chain established by St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association is
supporting the livelihoods of over 500 families.
Governance of the association
All eleven board members, as well as the entirety of association
staff, are members of the St. Catherine community. The board meets
regularly to take decisions regarding the association’s activities. All
technical and administrative ideas are discussed by inviting local
representatives to participate in the meetings. Decisions aim to
take into account the likely social, economic and environmental
implications for the community. The association has done a great
deal to advance the status of women by building their capacity,
providing employment opportunities and involving women in the
decision-making process as board members. Indeed, executive
management of association activities is carried out by Bedouin
women, setting a strong precedent in a community where women
have not traditionally been involved in public decision-making.
Although conceived through a project under the aegis of the
Environmental Affairs Agency, St. Catherine Medicinal Plants
Association is registered as a non-governmental organization.
The association is to a great extent financially self-sustaining,
with revenues coming from annual subscription fees paid by
members, profits accrued from a revolving loan programme, and
the commercial sale of medicinal plants, honey, handicrafts and
candles. All revenue accrues directly to community members,
helping to reduce management expenses and increase returns.
For its contribution to community development and conservation,
the Governor of South Sinai has granted St. Catherine Medicinal
Plants Association a building that serves as the hub of its activities
and provides space for association members to meet and sell their
products.
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Key Activities and Innovations
Conserving medicinal plants in the wild
St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association has undertaken a range
of activities to conserve the flora of the region, both through direct
conservation methods, and by developing alternative livelihood
opportunities to reduce pressure on wild plants from the activities of
the local population. The association’s activities follow the principles
of community-based natural resource management, providing the
community with the necessary skills and training to sustainably
manage their own resource base and develop meaningful alternative
livelihoods, rather than conserving local biodiversity at the expense
of community access to their resources.
To reduce the environmental impact of medicinal plant collection for
local use, community members are trained in methods for sustainably
collecting wild plants, resulting in an observed improvement
in the health and vitality of the local ecosystem. Twelve organic
cultivation sites have been established to develop techniques for
the domestication of wild medicinal plants. These cultivation sites
also function as demonstration sites. A seed collection programme
has been established to conserve the region’s unique range of plant
species. To preserve the distinctive character of the region’s plant life
in situ, a project has been implemented to control invasive species
that threaten endemic medicinal plants. Under this project, measures
have also been taken to control the region’s feral donkeys that graze
on threatened plants and to address overgrazing by livestock. To this
end, fodder lots have been provided for cattle.
Developing alternative livelihood options
Above and beyond wild medicinal plant cultivation, St. Catherine
Medicinal Plants Association is working to generate new sources of
income and create new livelihood options for the local population.
The aim is to diversify the local income base to reduce pressure on
wild flora and to avoid the dangers of overreliance on a single sector or
activity. One way this has been accomplished is through the creation
of household gardens and community farms, where medicinal
plants can be grown in a controlled, domesticated environment. The
association has helped to establish 25 community farms: 17 operated
by men and eight by women. The gardens and farms enable local
people to plant and market organic food and to produce medicinal
plants domestically rather than harvesting them from the wild. This
initiative has been particularly empowering for women, who have
generally taken responsibility for these activities in their households.
The gardens and farms are generating approximately EGP 500 (USD
82) per month for each household involved.
Alternative livelihood options are also being created through the
development of a value chain for local plant resources. Training
and investment has been provided to begin manufacturing and
marketing cosmetic and artisanal products derived from local
plants. Examples include soaps, candles and drawings of local plants
on wood, paper and cloth. Production of these and other handicrafts
has involved the participation of 600 individuals, each receiving
an average of EGP 150 (USD 25) per month for their work, and has
created 108 year-round jobs within the community. Meanwhile, two
hundred beehives have also been distributed by the association,
benefitting 15 households who between them produce about
1,000 kg of high quality mountain honey each year, generating EGP
200,000 (approximately USD 32,790) in revenue. Twenty-five per
cent of the revenue generated from honey production is returned
to the association and reinvested in other activities for the benefit of
the wider community.
Raising environmental awareness
The association works to raise local environmental awareness,
communicating the importance of biodiversity to the region’s
economic, environmental and social wellbeing. Environmental
awareness activities have helped improve community knowledge,
particularly for those working in the ecotourism sector. Greater
awareness has translated to higher levels of participation in
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conservation activities. To engage the younger generation of Bedouin,
the association recently held a successful campaign through the
reserve’s Green School Programme, teaching 543 students at 20 local
schools about the importance of the region’s plant biodiversity.
Sustainable energy, savings and loan services
The creation of home gardens and community farms has helped
reduce dependence on wild plants for firewood; a dependence
that, in combination with population growth and relative economic
despair and isolation, was previously putting unsustainable pressure
on local ecosystems. These interventions have been complemented
by the promotion of solar energy and the provision of gas ovens
to community members. It is hoped that these efforts will meet
community energy needs while also protecting the environment.
With the support of the Environmental Affairs Agency, eight solar
cells have been placed in community public areas, including the
mosque, to promote awareness of renewable energy options. Efforts
to provide access to sustainable energy have been tied closely to
a revolving loan programme, which has financed the purchase of
many gas ovens and gas cylinders for household use. To date, more
than 500 Bedouin families have benefited from the micro-credit
programme, which has financed 25 gas ovens, 275 gas cylinders,
and a significant number of beehives, solar heaters and domestic
plant gardens.
The revolving loan programme is central to the changes the association
is attempting to catalyse in the region. It functions as many micro-credit
programmes do, providing local households with finances to invest
in small businesses ventures, sustainable energy solutions, or income
diversification projects. The main project criteria for accessing the
revolving loan resources is any initiative that help reduce pressure on
the region’s medicinal plants, the environment and ecosystem services.
Overall, the initiative has contributed to the development of a
sustainable value-added chain for the marketing of medicinal
plants in St. Catherine’s Reserve. From harvesting to value-added
secondary processing to sales (in local, regional and global markets),
the initiative has helped to transform the local economy and the
local landscape.
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
St. Catherine’s Reserve is an ecologically unique area. It contains
almost half of Egypt’s endemic plant species, including a
significant number of medicinal and aromatic plants. The high
degree of endemism among Sinai plant species means that – with
mismanagement or continued overexploitation – local extinction
would also mean global extinction. Many local species are already
endangered. As one example, fewer than 100 Rosa Arabica plants
remain in the high mountains.
St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association has done a great deal
to increase local awareness of the unique ecology in the region, as
well as appreciation for how the burden of stewardship that falls
to the community can also create economic opportunity and new
benefit streams. The association has been judicious and balanced
in its emphasis on the social, environmental, economic and cultural
value that can be found in a healthy ecosystem and in a community
that protects and rejuvenates its unique concentration of medicinal
plants. Job creation, new livelihoods and higher tourism revenues
provide the clearest incentive for local action, and demonstrating
this economic upside has been an important catalyst of conservation
activities. Pressure on wild plants has been mitigated through training
in sustainable management and the provision of alternative livelihood
options. There has been a noticeable improvement in the condition of
wild plants as a result of the association’s conservation measures.
Holistic land management and environmental awareness
Another biodiversity impact from the initiative has been successfully
addressing the overgrazing of livestock, a ‘tragedy of the commons’
situation that was leading to land degradation, the loss of
threatened medicinal and aromatic plants, and resource conflicts.
Dedicated areas for livestock rearing, and corresponding areas for
plant cultivation, have created more thoughtful and harmonious
land management practices that have also reduced pressure on wild
plants. As part of a new land use planning approach, the association
has also established restoration sites: demarcated ecological zones
where no resource extraction is allowed, giving threatened medicinal
plant species a chance to recover and thrive. Lastly, the association
has made efforts to control invasive alien species, which also pose a
threat to endemic plants.
Environmental awareness campaigns have effectively raised local
consciousness of key threats to local ecosystems and the importance
of biodiversity to the local economy, not least of which to the tourism
sector: St. Catherine’s Reserve receives an estimated 300,000 visitors
every year. Importantly, these campaigns have been linked to the
publicizing of tangible economic benefits, including the creation of
jobs in the areas of honey production, soap and candle production,
and farming. As a result, the community feels it has a stake in
conserving the region’s flora, and that ecosystem health is directly
linked to their own wellbeing.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The Medicinal Plants Association has ensured that the local
community, with its traditional reliance on the region’s natural
resources, has remained central to its strategy to preserve the area’s
threatened medicinal plants. Rather than conserving endemic
plants at the expense of the local population by restricting access
to the reserve, for instance, the provision of gainful and reliable
employment options has been key to the programme model, and is
an important element of its success to date. By developing incomegeneration
opportunities that depend on the long-term health
of local ecosystems and diversity of plant species, the Bedouin
community has been given a strong stake in the conservation and
sustainable management of their local plant resources. Beyond
creating incentives, the association has prioritized community
investment in the project and ownership over decision-making and
governance.
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Income generation and employment opportunities have benefited
more than half of the local community. In total, the initiative has
created 108 new permanent jobs. The establishment of medicinal
plant farms and the development of honey production and
handicrafts and plant-derived products industries have together
boosted household and individual incomes significantly. The
community has collectively achieved a new level of economic
resilience. By diversifying incomes, the initiative has reduced
community vulnerability to economic and environmental shocks,
including the erratic rainfall patterns in the region which undermine
traditional livelihoods such as grazing and collection of wild plants.
By contrast, the activities promoted by the association are less
weather-dependent and can be undertaken year-round.
Empowerment of women
The biggest socioeconomic impact of the association’s work is its
contribution to the empowerment of Bedouin women and the
provision of employment opportunities where previously few
existed. Local employment opportunities for women were sparse at
best, and since Bedouin tradition does not permit women to leave
the community to live alone in cities where they might seek work
or pursue further education, financial independence and economic
opportunity were traditionally out of reach. The association has
changed this by basing its programmes and activities primarily
around the women of the community.
POLICY IMPACTS
At the national level, the association’s work has played into the
development of a regulatory framework for Access and Benefit
Sharing (ABS), developed by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in conjunction with other ministries involved in trade and intellectual
property rights. The framework aims to promote the conservation
and sustainable use of wild medicinal plants and their habitats as
well as preserve the traditional knowledge associated with their use.
The strategy adopts the mission of preserving Egypt’s wealth of
medicinal plants and related traditional knowledge through rational
management and sustainable use with the participation of all
stakeholders. It also aims to foster in communities that have been
the traditional stewards of these resources an understanding of the
benefits that can accrue to them from the sustainable management
and conservation of their local resource base. The framework makes
possible the setting of regulations and benefit-sharing arrangements
with institutions that might commercially exploit medicinal plants.
The experience of St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association has
been presented to the Cabinet of Ministers in Egypt as a model for
how the conservation of protected areas generate employment and
income for local communities that live in these reserves.
Women represent the majority of wild plants collectors. In addition,
eight of the community farms in which medicinal plants and food
crops are domesticated are operated by women. A programme
which oversees the development and marketing of produce
harvested from these farms is also managed by women, who receive
a monthly income for their work and are helping to create a platform
that provides other local women with a new income stream.
Approximately 150 Bedouin women receive income from the sale
of handicrafts through association’s sales outlets. Importantly, the
association provides opportunities for women to work from their
homes and fit their employment around their household schedules.
Local women have also received loans from the community revolving
fund to purchase gas ovens and cylinders. So too, women have been
actively involved in the governance of the association. Women sit on
the Board of Directors, and are taking part in community decisionmaking
processes alongside men for the first time.
“Local communities are the protectors of the environment and the basis of development.
Community-based organizations are like children who first need help to stand up, but
then, once given a little bit of support, can walk the rest of the way. Policy makers
should and must work with them and for them.”
Mr. Adel Abd Alla Soliman, Manager, Medicinal Plants Conservation Project
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
St. Catherine Medicinal Plants Association was set up with the support
of the Environmental Affairs Agency’s Medicinal Plants Conservation
Project, but today possesses the technical, administrative and
financial capacities to function independently. Support from UNDP-
GEF is in the process of being phased out and the initiative now relies
on its own income-generating activities to fund its endeavours.
A long-term sustainability operations plan has been established
encompassing all programmes and activities. The plan lays out a
timetable for proposed activities, the funding required for each, methods
of procuring the resources necessary to carry these out, and proposed
management arrangements. Funding for the association’s activities
comes from the proceeds of the sale of artisanal products, mountain
honey and plants, as well as from profits accrued from the revolving loan
scheme. The provision of a headquarters building for the association by
the South Sinai Governorate, meanwhile, has also contributed to financial
sustainability by reducing the association’s overhead expenses.
The association has received international accreditation in the
form of an Environmental Compliance Certificate for the collection
of plants, organic farming and trading of medicinal plants from
the Mediterranean Institute of Certification in Italy. A set of official
cooperation protocols with governmental agencies such as the
Ministry of the Environment and the Centre for Desert Research also
strengthens the association’s credibility.
REPLICATION
Plans are underway for the expansion of the project, including the
acquisition of more land on which to cultivate medicinal plants,
and tapping new and emerging markets for the sale of locally made
products. A website has been created to showcase the association’s
work, which has increased demand for its products and in turn
encouraged the community to increase its scope and ambition.
Beyond local expansion, the initiative has the potential to serve as a
model for sound, community-based natural resource management
across the region and beyond. The association currently works with
the largest and most influential of South Sinai’s seven Bedouin
tribes and as such it has the potential to be replicated through the
establishment of similar initiatives with the six other tribes that
inhabit the reserve.
Communities from other parts of Egypt, including Al-Jimal Valley
at the Red Sea and Shalateen in southern Egypt, have already
expressed interest in replicating the association’s work and have
begun to institute some activities inspired by the success of the St.
Catherine initiative. The association organized a series of visits to
representatives of these communities to explain the initiative, its
objectives and the positive impacts it has had on the communities of
St. Catherine’s Reserve. Partnership with the Ministry of Environment
played a large role in supporting the replication of the initiative
to these areas through the provision of the technical staff and
equipment necessary for the propagation of medicinal plants.
The association is an active participant in the UNDP-implemented
GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) Network in Egypt, another
channel through which its work has been spread to other regions.
Through a UNDP-GEF project on Conservation and Sustainable Use
of Medicinal Plants, the association has served as an example to
other communities, with UNDP-GEF arranging for representatives
of communities in other protected areas of similar conditions to St.
Catherine to visit the Medicinal Plants Association to learn about its
work in the hope of encouraging replication.
The association has generally taken a proactive approach to
knowledge sharing, producing and making available through its
website policy papers that provide overviews of its processes. These
include papers on threat analysis, scenario planning, communitybased
natural resource management, and in situ ecosystem
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ehabilitation. These papers provide a means for the project to
transfer its knowledge and share examples of best practice for
replication elsewhere.
PARTNERS
The UNDP-implemented GEF Small Grants Programme provided
seed funding for the project as well as capacity building for the
association’s elected board members. The grant also went towards
training community members in the cultivation of medicinal plants
and improving the quality and marketing of their products.
The association operates under a cooperation protocol with
the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) and is implemented in
partnership with the ministry, as represented by the management
of St. Catherine’s Reserve. The protocol defines the responsibilities
and obligations of the MOE to provide the Medicinal Plants
Association with the instruments and tools needed to cultivate and
propagate medicinal plants as well as the operating expenses of the
greenhouses. The MOE also provides the necessary technical support
for the operation of these greenhouses by providing qualified
engineers to follow the plant propagation processes. The protocol
defines the responsibilities and obligations of the association in the
use of medicinal plants seedlings, to be grown within the area of St.
Catherine, both in domestic farms or farms owned by the association.
It determines the types of medicinal plants allowed for marketing as
well as other species which are not permitted to be commercialized
due to their conservation status.
The South Sinai Governorate provides the association with its
headquarters building, while there is close cooperation between
the association and the Desert Research Centre of Egypt. Research
Centre staff members provide advanced technical training to
members of the association on techniques for sustainable collection
of wild plants. Finally, the association also cooperates with the Red
Sea Protected Areas Development Association in implementing
their biodiversity awareness activities for children.
“Wealth is in the hands of communities and lies in our natural resources. We must
teach our children how to preserve the environment. Do not lose hope. With hard work
and determination, we will achieve success for people and the environment.”
Mr. Adel Abd Alla Soliman, Manager, Medicinal Plants Conservation Project
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144

SULEDO FOREST
COMMUNITY
Tanzania
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Swahili
In 1993, the Government of Tanzania designated the Suledo Forest as a Central
Government Forest Reserve, in an attempt to stem the overexploitation of forest
resources in this 167,400-ha stretch of miombo woodland. This move, made without
prior local consultation, resulted in the disenfranchisement of nine neighbouring forestdependent
Maasai villages.
These communities resisted the new arrangement, prompting the government to
begin a process of devolution of forest use rights to the local level through Village
Environmental Committees, where local communities were transferred responsibilities
for formulating forest management plans and crafting by-laws to enforce them.
Eventually, Suledo Forest was granted the legal status of a Village Land Forest Reserve,
formally establishing local management authority, and allowing for the sustainable
commercial harvesting of forest resources for the benefit of the Maasai.

Background and Context
The Suledo Forest Community is made up of nine rural villages
(Laiseri, Olkitikiti, Loltpesi, Muturu, Asamatwa, Olgira, Sunya, Lesoit
and Lengatei), home to a total population of approximately 54,000
people. These villages are located in the southeastern corner of Kiteto
District in the Manyara Region of the United Republic of Tanzania.
The nine villages that make up the Suledo Forest Community are
relatively large, ranging in size from 8,700 ha to over 52,000 ha, with
an average size of 30,000 ha. Each village is made up of between five
and eight sub-villages.
Within the official borders of these nine registered villages lies the
Suledo Forest – 167,400 ha of species-rich miombo woodland,
deriving its name from its location within the three wards of Sunya,
Lengatei and Dongo. Miombo, the Swahili word for Brachystegia, a
genus of tree comprising a large number of species, makes up the
major vegetation type of the Suledo Forest, along with mixed Acacia
and Combretum species, thickets, and dry montane forest. The forest
also contains valuable ebony (Dalbergia melanoxylon) and African
teak (Pterocarpus angolensis) species. Suledo Forest was traditionally
used for grazing by indigenous, nomadic Maasai tribes, and during
the colonial administration, the area was administered as a Maasai
District, with no land uses other than grazing permitted, giving the
Maasai almost complete control over the forest.
By the early 1990s, however, the gradual immigration of other tribes
to the area resulted in greater diversity of ethnicities, and led to
competition for resources from other land uses. Extensive logging
operations targeted and removed large timber trees and most of the
valuable tree species in the forest were removed. Areas of forest were
cleared for agriculture, much of it on a commercial scale, severely
disrupting traditional grazing patterns, not only by reducing the
area available for grazing, but also by cutting off cattle tracks and
obstructing access to water sources. The impacts of these activities
were compounded by corruption and a lack of transparency and
accountability on the part of local forestry officials. Even when trees
were removed legally, only 20 per cent of the revenue was returned
to the district, and only four per cent went on to reach the village
level.
The situation came to a head in 1993, when concerns over the
unsustainable exploitation of the forest led regional government
forestry offices to declare the forest a Central Government Forest
Reserve. No survey of socioeconomic conditions was carried out,
however, and, despite the presence of established villages, cultivated
fields, and settlements inside the planned reserve, no consultations
were held with the local people. Regulations were imposed that
would have made grazing illegal, cutting off the local Maasai
population from their traditional livelihood. Rather than protect
the forest from further degradation, this action disproportionately
threatened the local Maasai community’s wellbeing. The forest
administration nonetheless proceeded with the demarcation, in
an attempt to meet ambitious targets set out in the 1989 Tropical
Forestry Action Plan (TFAP) to increase the area of forest reserves in
the country.
The demarcation triggered an immediate response from the residents
of the adjoining villages, who argued that sustainable management
of the forest should be devolved to the villages. This was supported
by a socioeconomic study carried out in 1994 that recommended
community-based forest management. The government capitulated
and in 1995, a process was begun to develop a framework for the
devolution of forest management to the villages. Officially approved
in June 1995, village-based management of the Suledo Forest was
implemented in collaboration with the Kiteto District Council and
District Forest Officers, who were responsible for the implementation
of land use regulations. Initially implemented under the Arusha
Region’s Regional Forestry Programme, the project was subsequently
incorporated into Tanzania’s Land Management Programme (LAMP).
By 1997, the Suledo Forest was under the management of the Suledo
Forest Community – which operates as a network of autonomous
community-based organizations, representing the interests of each
of the nine villages. The Community receives funding and support
from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) via
the LAMP District Advisor, which is funded by SIDA and operated
through Orgut Consulting, a Swedish for-profit firm.
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Governing community-based forest management
The process of initiating community-based forest management
began with the formation of Village Environmental Committees in
each of the nine villages, as well as lesser committees in each subvillage.
Each Village Environment Committee was represented on
an overarching Zonal Environmental Committee (the zone being
the entirety of the Suledo Village Land Forest Reserve). Committees
were both gender and ethnically balanced, representing all of the
relevant village stakeholders, and were determined by regular
elections. The committees met regularly and had well-defined roles
and duties, including detailed terms of reference for the roles of
Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer.
The purpose of the committees was to improve the socioeconomic
situation of the Suledo communities and to reduce poverty by
improving natural resource management through the introduction
of equitable and sustainable use practices, especially with regard to
grazing, agriculture, and other livelihood activities such as beekeeping
and the harvesting of non-timber forest products. Facilitated by a
participatory land-use planning exercise, each village divided their
land into management zones and established simple rules for its use.
Committees established patrolling systems to ensure compliance.
These forest patrols engaged many young adults of the Maasai and
other tribes, during the traditional ‘warrior’ stage.
Local knowledge and institutions formed the basis for these
management plans and the rules gained legal status as they were
formulated and passed by the respective village assemblies and
incorporated into village by-laws. The forest was given the status
of a Village Land Forest Reserve in 2007, a category designated by
Tanzania’s 2002 Forest Act which has paved the way for villagebased
forest management in Tanzania on a wider scale.
The villages of the Suledo Forest Community collectively manage
their forest through the overarching Zonal Environmental Committee
(ZEC) which draws its membership from the Village Environmental
Committees of each of the nine villages. The ZEC consists of twentyseven
members (three from each Village Environmental Committee)
and is led by a Secretary. The role of the ZEC is to oversee issues
that are common to all of the villages, such as boundary disputes
between villages or the absence of clearly marked borders with
neighboring districts.
After the Suledo Forest was designated as a Village Land Forest
Reserve in 2007, a legal agreement between the villages and the ZEC
(as the managing committee of the forest), allowed the ZEC to enter
into harvesting contracts for timber and other forest products, and
to defray the costs of managing the Suledo Forest by collecting part
of the revenue from fees charged and licenses issued. A portion of
any revenue was to be distributed equally between the nine Village
Environmental Committees. In 2009, the Suledo Forest Community
began a tendering process to begin selective harvesting of trees
from the forest, and entered into an agreement with a company to
proceed with this work. After repeated delays, selective harvesting
was due to begin on a 500 ha plot of forest in 2010.
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Key Activities and Innovations
Each of the nine villages in the Suledo Forest Community is
demarcated into two main areas: a settlement area and a forest area.
The settlement area is home to habitations and is also used for smallscale
agriculture and the collection of non-timber forest products.
The combined forest areas make up the legal Village Land Forest
Reserve, totaling 167,416 ha. No settlements are allowed within
this area, which is divided into three main zones: 80 per cent is
designated for grazing, five per cent for agricultural expansion, and
15 per cent as fully protected forest.
Grazing is permitted in practice within both the grazing and
agricultural expansion areas, and is allowed within the forest
areas during times of drought if approved by the village-level
environmental management committees, reflecting the fact that
grazing is still the predominant livelihood activity in the Maasai
villages. It should be noted, however, that most Maasai have begun
to engage in some small-scale agriculture in recent years.
Land use regulations
The borders of the grazing, agricultural expansion and forest
zones are marked on trees and stones with yellow paint to make
them highly visible. They have also been mapped by the villagers.
Based on the zoning of the forest and the current condition of the
resources within each area, a set of simple forest use rules has been
established by each village. The rules stipulate whether the zones
are prohibited from use, freely available for use, available for use
with a free permit issued by the Village Environmental Committee or
available for use with a permit and on payment of a fee. Collection
of forest products from within the Village Land Forest Reserve, for
example, requires a permit, while a fee must be paid if this is done
for commercial purposes.
Regulations surrounding grazing are based on traditional pastoralist
practices of Kiteto District, which relies on a grazing system that
covers large areas of land and does not observe administrative
boundaries. Grazing regulations are flexible, and change depending
on the availability and location of water and grass at any time.
Sharing grazing areas and allowing free movement of cattle are
necessary if animals are to survive periods of severe drought. Village
by-laws are structured around these customary practices, ensuring
the availability of a large grazing area. Violations of grazing rules
are punished with a heavy fine - usually a mature bull which is
slaughtered and shared by the community members.
In cases of illegal logging, the ZEC may confiscate timber as
evidence, notify the police, and take the suspected loggers to court.
If the community wins its case, they may sell the timber and take
ownership of any vehicles or equipment confiscated from illegal
operators.
Forest Patrols
The regulations are enforced by patrols, which typically consist of
young men from the village. Patrol members are equipped with
identity cards and currently operate in all nine villages. This work is
unpaid, however, and reliant on volunteers who are exempted from
other roles as compensation for their patrol work. Nevertheless,
maintaining sufficient interest in patrolling the forest proved a
challenge. Patrols focus on areas of the forest that are most frequently
targeted by loggers and poachers, and also rely on observations
made by pastoralist Maasai. While the project was initially effective
in ensuring compliance with the newly-established by-laws, illegal
settlements began to appear within the forest’s grazing areas as the
necessary commitment to patrolling and regulating the forest areas
waned.
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The community has sought the support of the Kiteto District Council
to deal with bigger intrusions, especially in the case of extensive
forest exploitation or large-scale clearance for agriculture. Similarly,
the support of the District Court in Kijungu has been necessary to
administer punishments for culprits. Continued support from these
local institutions is necessary for the sustained success of the Suledo
Forest project
Selective Harvesting
Although the Suledo Forest Community generates some income
through the issuance of permits and fines, the most promising
prospective source of income for the community is through the
selective logging of valuable hardwood species from the forest. As
the Suledo Forest has been under the protection of the community
since the mid-1990s, it is in relatively good condition and has the
potential to generate substantial income for the local communities if
sustainably harvested. The sustainable harvesting of trees would also
provide a strong incentive for the continued protection of the forest.
Plans to produce charcoal from the remnants of harvested trees also
represent a potential source of income generation and employment
from the forest. However, because this trade is unregulated it has
proven controversial, and an overall plan as to how to proceed has
yet to be established
Socioeconomic benefits from commercial harvesting of resources
have been hampered by governance issues. Suledo Forest has
been one of few Tanzanian community-based forest management
projects to attempt to incorporate sustainable timber harvesting
into its conservation work. This is due to the high economic potential
of timber harvesting for the Suledo Forest Community. According to
a study conducted in 2010, potential annual revenue from timber in
Suledo is USD 213,000 (USD 23,700 per village). After years of careful
management of forest resources, in 2007 the decision was taken to
pilot timber harvesting within the area. The management plan was
revised to include this project and was submitted to the Tanzanian
Forest and Beekeeping Division (FBD).
The Suledo forest has a generation time of 60 years, or 80 in the
case of African Blackwood trees (Dalbergia melanoxylon). After
much discussion between villages, Sunya village’s 10,000 ha forest
was chosen as a pilot plot for timber-harvesting. With a 60-year
rotational system, the size of each cut was set at 167 ha. The first
plot was selected, and trees above 40 cm diameter at breast height
were marked for harvesting. Several larger, healthy trees were left
standing as a gene pool for future regeneration. Funding for this
pilot timber harvesting was provided by the ZEC, while the Kiteto
District Forest Office supported the technical work in demarcating
the trees for felling. Initial estimates in 2007 of the volume of
timber and income resulting from this cutting suggested that this
would not be economically viable, however, making it necessary to
demarcate an additional cutting from an adjacent village’s forest
area. A contract with a harvesting company was eventually signed
in December 2009, although delays to the process meant that by the
end of 2010, harvesting had still not begun.
Table 1: List of commercial timber species in Suledo forest
Botanical Name Family Common Name Local Name Common Uses
Pterocarpus
angolensis
Fabaceae Transvaal teak Mninga Timber (construction, furniture) and medicine
Brachystegia
spiciformis
Fabaceae Zebrawood, Msasa Mkalakala
Timber (furniture, railway sleepers), fodder, apiculture,
firewood and charcoal, fibre (rope for roof ties, sacks, cloth,
corn bins, beehives), tannin or dyestuff, medicinal (roots)
Brachystegia
microphylla
Albizia versicolor
Dalbergia
melanoxylon
Julbernadia
globiflora
Grewia bicolor
Combretum
molle
Fabaceae Miombo (generic) Msane Timber, fodder, apiculture
Fabaceae
Fabac cae
Fabaceae
Tiliaceae
Source: Walker Painemilla, K., et al. 2010.
Large-leaved false
thorn
African blackwood,
African ebony
Bastard brandy
bush
Mkingu
Mpingo
Mhangala
Mkole
Combretaceae Velvet bush willow Mlamamweusi
149
Timber (furniture, cabinets, parquet floors), fodder,
apiculture, tannin or dyestuff, medicine (root bark), boiled
roots are a soap substitute
Carving, animal fodder, apiculture, firewood, medicinal
(roots and smoke)
Timber (heavy construction, mining timbers, railroad
crossties), firewood and charcoal
Timber walking sticks and canes, tool handles, weapons,
hut frames and nomadic tent posts), fruits (edible and
fermentable), mucilaginous leaves (used as binding
agents for sauces), fibre (cordage), fodder (favoured by
sheep and goats), firewood, medicinal (leaves, root, wood
and bark), leaves used as a soap substitute
Timber (handles, poles, stools, construction and fence
posts), cattle fodder, apiculture, firewood and charcoal,
tannin or dyestuff, medicinal (roots, leaves, gum)

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Natural resource inventories carried out for each of the nine villages
in 1999-2000 identified 80 tree and shrub species, as well as an array
of large mammals and reptiles typical of the savanna woodlands
of Tanzania. These include primates such as the yellow baboon (P.
cynocephalus) and vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythru), and other
mammal species such as the scrub hare (Lepus saxatilis), bat-eared fox
(Otocyon megalotis), African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), spotted hyena
(Crocuta crocuta), greater and lesser kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros
and Ammelaphus imberbis), gazelles, impala, and hartebeest, as well
as leopards, lions, zebra, and many other species.
Despite the inevitable challenges faced by the Suledo Forest
Community, including slow progress with capacity building and
empowerment training, the need to put new systems for forest
governance in place, and changes in government policies and
leadership, significant levels of forest recovery are visible since the
community took responsibility for its management. Forest cover
and regrowth within the 167,000 ha of managed forest reserve have
improved, and there is now better pasture available for grazing.
Populations of elephants and elands have increased since the Suledo
Forest Reserve was established, thanks to a reduction in poaching
within the area.
This represents a substantial feat, and validates the model of
community-led forest management that Suledo has helped to
pioneer in Tanzania. The transition from the forest as an open access
resource to the forest as an area under planned management
has allowed these positive impacts to occur, primarily by limiting
exploitation of the forest by outside groups for commercial purposes.
While it has been argued that forest grazing can limit forest growth
and harm regeneration, the results of the rotational management
system employed in the Suledo Forest have had a substantially lower
impact on the ecosystem than large-scale logging or clearance for
agriculture that was previously occuring.
Limits on harvesting forest resources have allowed endangered
tree species such as sandalwood (Santalum album) and Pterocarpus
to recover. Sustainable, commercial harvesting of trees for timber,
firewood, and charcoal has been carefully explored in recent years
and is now beginning to be undertaken.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
In line with the initial aims of the Suledo Forest’s pastoralist
communities, the forest management plan has allowed extensive
grazing of cattle. With 80 per cent of the forest area set aside for
grazing, and procedures for additional land to be made available in
cases of extreme drought, the forest has supported the grazing of
40,000 cattle. This is the principal livelihood activity of the Maasai
people, bringing them economic gains as well as preserving their
traditional culture.
Under the government’s 1993 plan for the forest, the Maasai would
have been entirely prohibited from grazing their livestock within the
forest. The maintenance of grazing rights is therefore an important
victory for the initiative. Combined with allowing areas of forest
for small-scale agricultural expansion, this has brought important
nutritional and financial gains to the Suledo communities. Milk
production has increased from 1 liter to 1.5 liters daily per cow, while
farming communities have managed to increase crop production on
average from 15 to 25 bags of maize per hectare. Villagers have cited
better control of cattle diseases as a result of the increased grazing
area, and the management plan has also reduced conflict between
pastoralist and farming communities.
The forest also provides the local communities with other benefits
that support basic livelihoods. The forest offers a particularly high
potential for beekeeping, as it is rich in varieties of flowering plants
and reliable water sources. Collection of fruits, nuts, medicinal plants
and mushrooms is allowed under the Suledo Forest management
plan, supporting villagers’ diets, wellbeing, and income.
The forest reserve is also the venue for several traditional initiation
ceremonies for the Maasai and other local tribes. The increased
local availability of timber for houses and community buildings has
reduced household expenditure on commercially harvested timber.
Through proper protection and management, the increased supply
of water from natural sources has enabled villagers to establish tree
nurseries, vegetable gardens and fruit orchards that contribute
directly to improved livelihoods. Easier and more reliable access to
water reduces the workload of family members, in particular women.
Training and capacity building activities have built the competence
of the Suledo Forest Community to manage their own natural
resources, and women in particular have gained from training and
the opportunity to take part in the governance of the initiative.
NGOs have provided training to equal quotas of men and women
in financial management, legal issues, fund tracking, tender process
and evaluation of bids, contracts, harvesting operations, charcoal
making, monitoring and land rights.
In Maasai culture, women traditionally have little say in decision
making processes. Committees formed for the management
of the forest have challenged this tradition by ensuring the fair
representation of women both on committees and in access to
employment opportunities that the forest management initiative
provides. Women and men were given equal opportunities for
training and women are now, together with the men, working as
book-keepers, monitors, forest guards, and in various roles in the
tree harvesting process, receiving the same pay as men.
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Revenue from timber
Revenue from sustainable tree harvesting and charcoal making
promised to provide a sustainable source of income for the forest
communities but this has been hampered to a degree by delays
in getting harvesting underway, and disagreements regarding the
division of revenue from timber and charcoal sales. According to a
study conducted in 2010, potential annual revenue from timber in
Suledo is USD 213,000 (USD 23,700 per village), a figure that would
represent a substantial contribution to livelihoods if profits were
shared between the villages and used for the ongoing management
of the forest. To date, however, efforts to sustainably harvest trees
have been delayed, although the first harvest has been undertaken,
with villagers finding employment during this first round.
Efforts to sustainably harvest non-timber forest products, and
especially firewood and charcoal, have also proved frustrating. The
districts of Kiteto and Simanjirio supply charcoal to urban centers such
as Moshi and Arusha. Much of the trade is unregulated and illegal,
however, and has significant ecological impacts in both districts.
If Suledo villages were to produce charcoal from leftover branches
from timber harvesting, which can account for up to 60 per cent of
the total harvested volume, this would provide a vital second source
of income for the Suledo villages, and could target more vulnerable
sectors of the local population or women’s groups. It was estimated
that the sale of charcoal could generate up to USD 30,000 annually.
Because this trade is unregulated, however, it has proven controversial,
and an overall plan as to how to proceed has yet to be established. This
process has also been complicated by disagreements between the
local District Forest Office and the Forestry and Beekeeping Division
over how the revenues from firewood and charcoal sales should be
divided. The FBD has claimed that the revenues should accrue directly
to the central government, which has been resisted at the local level.
POLICY IMPACTS
Although the Suledo Forest Community has had positive impacts
on Tanzania’s national forestry policy, there has been a lack of
adequate support for the project from both the local and national
government levels. These have been related both to the policing
of illicit activity within the forest reserve and to the distribution of
revenues. Unfortunately, these governance issues have hampered
the ability of the project to fully achieve its interlinked conservation
and socioeconomic goals.
The implementation of community-based forest management has
not been without problems. Illegal activities, including pit-sawing
and poaching, continue to take place in the forest. At one stage,
unregulated farms were opened up in the forest to such an extent
that it was impossible for patrollers to control the situation. The bylaws
have at times been used successfully to send offenders, including
one sub-village chairperson and one schoolteacher, to jail. In many
cases, however, the Village Environmental Committees have lacked
the authority to punish transgressors effectively. In addition, proper
reporting and documentation of incidents have been lacking, and
there is still a lack of transparency as to the use of funds collected
as fines from villagers. In all villages, without exception, forests
and grazing areas are being lost to agriculture, often to outsiders
supported by village leaders.
While these threats could be alleviated with adequate support
from Kiteto District Council and the District Court in Kijungu, these
local institutions have not always been able to respond effectively.
Similarly, disagreements and a lack of transparency over the use of
revenues from commercial sales of timber or other forest products
have severely hampered attempts to develop sustainable harvesting
as an alternative livelihood activity.
Nonetheless, recognition of the Suledo Forest project’s positive
impacts, particularly in its early stages, has allowed it to inform
government policies. The management of the forest by local
communities in the early 1990s was made possible by existing land
and government laws that enabled Suledo’s Zonal Environmental
Committee to develop by-laws and enter into partnership with
Kiteto District Council. At that stage, existing forest law did not
allow communities to manage and own forests. By demonstrating
positive impacts on the ground, the experiences of the Suledo
forest (and others in central and northern Tanzania) were used to
influence and inform the development of the Forest Policy (1998)
which in turn fed into the formulation of the Forest Act (2002) which
clearly recognizes the role played by rural communities in forest
management and provides a legal basis for much of the participatory
forest management work currently being implemented in Tanzania.
The Act is now one of the most progressive forest laws in Africa,
providing village governments with the mandate to demarcate,
register, own, manage and utilize forests on their own village lands
for the purposes of sustainable forest management and local revenue
generation. Over 1.8 million hectares of forests and woodlands are
now under village ownership and management.
The Suledo initiative also received international recognition at the
Second International Workshop on Participatory Forestry in Africa,
arranged by the FAO and GTZ, in Arusha, February 2002. In the same
year, the initiative was awarded the inaugural UNDP Equator Prize.
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
Suledo Forest Community faces the challenges of financial,
environmental, and social sustainability. Its continued existence as
an administrative body since 1994 and its successes in conserving
forest resources and benefitting local livelihoods during this time
are indicators of a level of sustainability, although this is threatened
by various factors. Financial sustainability has become a prescient
challenge as the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida)
has withdrawn its support of the project in recent years. This was
planned over the long-term, with the objective of gradually making
Suledo a self-sustaining initiative; however, new sources of funding
have not yet been developed.
One principal means of supporting the project’s operational costs
would have been sustainable timber harvesting, which would have
allowed profits to be reinvested in the management initiative. The
slow progress of negotiations for harvesting has prevented this from
being developed as a viable source of financing. One possibility
explored has been to pursue Forest Stewardship Council certification
for the forest’s harvested timber. This would open up high-value
markets for the community, as well as entailing a source of external
management support, but the process is very costly and is not likely
to be embarked upon unless a partner can be identified to invest in
the process.
their knowledge of their legal rights. However, the situation is still
precarious and the possibility remains that the villagers’ experience in
harvesting operations and the handling of funds may be too limited
to have securely taken root on the community level.
PARTNERS
Village-based management of the Suledo Forest was implemented in
collaboration with the Kiteto District Council and District Forest Officers.
Initially implemented under the Arusha Region’s Regional Forestry
Programme, the project was subsequently incorporated into Tanzania’s
Land Management Programme (LAMP). Via the LAMP District Advisor,
the Suledo Forest Community receives support and funding from
the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) which funds
the LAMP programme and operates it through Orgut Consulting, a
Swedish for-profit firm specializing in management support for longterm
multi-disciplinary rural development programmes. The Suledo
Forest Community continues to work closely with local government
agencies, such as Kiteto District Council, and the Tanzanian Forestry and
Beekeeping Division.
An alternative strategy for boosting long-term financial sustainability
is opening the area to ecotourism, or to commercial game hunting.
Any agreements with tourism operators would require extensive
discussions between the villages, and the community is wary of the
likely problems associated with sharing revenues from ecotourism.
The prospect of raising funds to maintain the forest through REDD
payments for carbon sequestration has been mentioned, but since
one aim of Tanzania’s national REDD strategy is to help people to
diversify into income generating activities that do not include forest
use, grazing would likely not be allowed in a REDD-managed forest.
As mentioned previously, there continue to be many threats to the
forest’s resources from ‘land grabs’ for agriculture. These ongoing
environmental threats pose a challenge to the initiative’s ongoing
success. Simultaneously, the improvements that have been seen in
terms of biodiversity can in turn pose social problems. Where wildlife
numbers have increased, this can lead to costs in the form of crop
damage. Human-wildlife conflict is exacerbated by the lack of clear
laws relating to management of the wildlife of Suledo Forest, and the
proximity of human settlements to healthy populations of various
wildlife species. This situation needs to be addressed to prevent
these issues undermining social support for the project.
There have certainly been some positive social outcomes that may bode
well for the communities’ future prospects of successfully managing
the Suledo forest. Capacity-building training has strengthened
community members’ competence in forest management and
152

SWAZI INDIGENOUS
PRODUCTS
Swaziland
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l German
Swazi Indigenous Products is a member-owned natural seed oil enterprise that provides
jobs and income to rural women, while protecting the ecosystems of the Lubombo
region of Swaziland. Women are supported to sustainably cultivate and collect wild
marula, trichilia, and ximenia seeds. The initiative also runs a tree-planting program and
offers environmental education training for its over 2,400 seed collectors.
The seeds collected by members are processed to produce seed oils, which are then
used in the production of skin care products. To capture a greater share of the market
supply-chain, the group created its own line of skincare products, Swazi Secrets. The
enterprise has paid out more than USD 396,000 to its members over the last seven years.
Additional incomes from seed collection have helped to offset healthcare and education
costs, and improved the status of women in decision-making processes.

Background and Context
Swazi Indigenous Products (SIP) is a member-owned natural seed oil
enterprise that was founded in 2004 with the intention of developing
a reliable source of income for rural women while simultaneously
protecting native trees in the Lubombo region of eastern Swaziland.
The enterprise supports local women in the sustainable harvesting of
wild marula, trichilia and ximenia tree seeds, which are processed and
their oils extracted at the initiative’s factory in Mpaka. The oils are used
to produce the Swazi Secrets line of natural and ethically-produced
skincare products, which are marketed in Africa and around the
world. In addition to providing job opportunities and income to the
cooperative’s 2,400 members, SIP provides training in environmental
conservation, natural resource management and organic production
to its harvesters. These trainings are complemented by activities to
conserve and restore local ecosystems.
Development challenges in Swaziland
Swaziland is an economically poor country, with 70 per cent of the
population living below the poverty line. The Lubombo district –
which takes its name from the flat-topped mountains which form
Swaziland’s eastern border with Mozambique – is no exception. Few
livelihood options exist, with the majority of communities working
in subsistence industries. Swaziland’s economic development has
been further hampered by its markedly high rates of HIV/AIDS
infection. The country, in fact, has the highest infection rate in the
world – over one quarter of adults, and over half of adults between
the age of 20 and 30, are infected. The epidemic compounds the
challenges faced by Swazi women, who are granted low legal and
social status in what remains a highly traditional, extremely maledominated,
and often polygamous society. Women are seen as
second class citizens, enjoying few rights and playing very little part
in community or household decision-making. Married women are
viewed as minors in the eyes of the law, and their low social status
in embedded at every level of society. Lack of access to education
for women and girls further perpetuates their social and economic
marginalization.
Ecology, climate and land use in Lubombo
The lowveld region of Lubombo is a semi-arid, rural landscape.
It includes the districts of Dvokodvweni, Hlane, Mpolonjeni,
Siphofaneni, Sithobela and part of Tikhuba (Sibovini). The bushveld
savannah ecosystem offers a wealth of natural resources that
go largely untapped by local communities. Subsistence farming
and livestock rearing constitute the main livelihoods of the local
population. Commercial activities are virtually non-existent in
the region, with the exception of some sugar plantations. In this
particular region, land is allocated through hereditary tenure
arrangements. According to customary laws, land use and resource
access are determined by a traditional chief’s council or committee.
Typically, single houses with one to two hectares of fields are scattered
throughout the region, interspersed with communal grazing land
and woodland characteristic of the bushveld ecosystem, namely
indigenous forests and grass and thorn savannah. The region
experiences low and erratic levels of rainfall which makes crop yields
unreliable. Combined with a lack of financial resources, this has
resulted in virtually no use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, and
many fields have been left fallow for long periods of time. As a result,
the region is ideally suited for the organic harvesting and cultivation
of oil seeds.
Marula trees – the cornerstone of local livelihoods
The marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) is native to southern Africa and
is abundant in the Lubombo region of Swaziland. Known commonly
as “the king of African trees”, marula has long been valued for its
healing properties. The fruit of the tree is used to brew homemade
beer (buganu). Oil from its seeds has traditionally been used to
minimize stretch marks during pregnancy. The fruit of the marula
falls to the ground in the month of February, where it is collected
by rural women who rely on it as a source of income. Increasingly,
however, the marula and other native trees have been under threat
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due to deforestation, overgrazing, and overharvesting. Seventyeight
per cent of households in Lubombo are dependent on wood
as a cooking fuel. Although local communities have traditionally
collected firewood and forest products from communal land, this
practice has not changed to take into account a rapidly growing
population. As a result, anthropogenic pressure on local natural
resources – the marula tree included – has become unsustainable.
The genesis and evolution of Swazi Indigenous Products
Women are overwhelmingly the main harvesters of marula fruit. It
constitutes a primary source of income, traditionally coming from
the brewing and sale of homemade beer (buganu). The harvesting
and collection of fruit was widely seen as below the status of men.
The architects of what would become Swazi Indigenous Products
recognized that having this sector as the exclusive domain of
women represented an opportunity to both raise the earning power
of what was an economically isolated and marginalized segment of
the population and to create a platform for women’s empowerment.
Specifically, SIP saw the opportunity to develop a market for marula
seed kernels, which could be easily harvested from local trees with
felling them or causing any significant damage to the ecosystem.
The initiative began in 2004 with a feasibility study that was funded
by the WK Kellogg Foundation. Having identified a clear need and
market niche, SIP was formed as a not-for-profit company. The group
quickly established operations, harvesting, processing and trading
bulk marula oil. By 2008, the company had generated more than
USD 170,000 in sales.
highest standards of fair trade and environmental sustainability”. The
company has gone to great lengths to ensure organizational growth
and improvements in product standards. SIP has actively sought out
external verification and evaluation of its procedures, including in the
area of organic production, harvesting volumes, and progress towards
fair trade certification. In 2010, SIP was granted membership of the
Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT) and achieved an exceptionally high
score of 78.5 per cent when audited against UEBT’s Standard, which
includes social, business and environmental management criteria.
Governance and institutional structure
The initiative operates through a network of member groups, each
consisting of 15 to 20 harvesters. In 2009, full ownership of SIP was
transferred to its suppliers through their member groups, with each
harvester paying a ZAR 10 (approximately USD 1.10) membership
fee in exchange for a non-transferable share in the company. This
model entitles suppliers to a share in SIP profits and the right to elect
the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting. There are nine
members on the Board of Directors – five community representatives
(who must be involved in the SIP supply chain) and four professional
representatives chosen for their business expertise.
The global recession, however, made bulk oil sales increasingly
unprofitable. To exacerbate matters, SIP had become exclusively
reliant on a single buyer. As a result, sales plummeted by 60 per cent.
The company was faced with a decision – change the model or go
out of business. SIP responded by branching into the development
of a brand of cosmetic products called Swazi Secrets, manufactured
entirely by the company based on local harvesting. This ambitious
move required a redoubling of marketing efforts, but allowed
the company to use value-adding secondary processing to bring
new benefit streams to local producers. The enterprise – and the
calculated risk of diversifying from bulk oil to cosmetic products –
has been a wholesale success. The Swazi Secrets range of products
can now be purchased in 31 countries across five continents. The
enterprise provides employment or supplemental income for 2,400
rural Swazi women. Swazi Secrets products have been commended
by a number of health and beauty magazines, and, in 2006,
Phytotrade Africa presented SIP with the Ubuntu Natural Award for
outstanding achievement in the field of Fair Trade natural products.
The organization successfully combines the creation of equitable
market supply chains for locally harvested oil seeds with environmental
conservation and tree-planting campaigns. Economic development
and environmental responsibility receive equal attention in the SIP
mandate. SIP has also developed a robust series of training programs
in the organic cultivation and sustainable harvesting of marula. Two
guiding principles of the company are “ownership by and income
generation for rural Swazi women” and “[compliance with] the
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Key Activities and Innovations
Swazi Indigenous Products has been able to tap the natural wealth
of rural Lubombo ecosystems in a manner that does not degrade the
environment and which is creating employment and much-needed
incomes for a previously marginalized segment of the population.
All benefits flow from the equitable market supply-chain which has
been developed to link local harvesters of marula with lucrative
markets. In addition to cultivating and exploring new markets for
locally produced products, SIP oversees a range of educational and
conservation activities. The common thread linking all of its work is
an effort to build the capacity of and empower local women.
Swazi Secrets – from tree to bottle
Marula fruit has traditionally been used to brew homemade beer
(buganu) which served as a source of income for Swazi women. SIP
saw economic potential beyond brewing and has trained women
in harvesting and value-adding secondary processing techniques
which have unlocked immense economic value – well beyond that
of the buganu industry – from marula fruit. At the centre of each
fruit is a hard, smooth, oval-shaped nut, which itself contains two
or three kernels. The nuts are left to dry in the sun to facilitate
cracking and removal of the kernels. The kernels are collected by
SIP harvesters and taken to community ‘buying points’ on a monthly
basis, where members sell them to their own company. SIP staff
members grade and weigh the kernels and compensate suppliers
accordingly. The kernels are transported to the SIP facility in Mpaka
where they are cold pressed to extract the oil. As marula kernels
can only be harvested and stored for six months of the year, they
are supplemented with ximenia and trichilia seeds which SIP has
incorporated into its product range. The oil is then used in a range of
cosmetic products sold under the Swazi Secrets brand.
The product range now includes: Marula Oil, Marula and Shea Butter
Body Lotion, Marula and Shea Butter Lip Balm, Hand-Made Marula
Soap, Marula Exfoliator, Ximenia Oil and Hand-made Trichilia Soap.
Swazi Secrets products are also marketed in gift and hotel packs. To
minimize their environmental impact, products are each sold with
only one layer of packaging – a bottle or tube with no outer box.
Currently, labels are affixed to each container. As demand grows,
however, SIP hopes to achieve sufficient volumes to warrant printing
directly onto tubes and bottles to further reduce packaging material.
Quality is rigorously maintained through strict quality control
standards. All suppliers receive training in correct handling and
storage of kernels. The kernels are graded at purchase, with only ‘Grade
A’ kernels receiving full payment. Substandard kernels are purchased
at a reduced price and used only for manufacturing soap. Natural oils
are kept in cold storage and regularly tested for acid value to ensure
freshness, while periodic testing is carried out by external laboratories
to ensure that no traces of salmonella, e-coli, yeasts, moulds or
pesticides are present. Since its formation, SIP has paid ZAR 3.7 million
(or approximately USD 420,000) directly to rural Swazi women.
Environmental conservation and tree planting
Along with production and marketing, Swazi Indigenous Products
is engaged in a number of conservation activities that contribute
to the health of local ecosystems. As part of a move towards a 100
per cent ranking in the Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT) standards,
SIP undertook an extensive evaluation of its harvesting practices.
Through this process, the company was able to identify adjustments
that could be made to its harvesting techniques to have as little
negative impact on the environment as possible. The group has
also undertaken a tree-planting campaign which has seeded over
1,500 trees. SIP implements a number of training programmes for
its members focused on conservation and ensuring sustainable
harvesting. These have included raising awareness of the threats
posed by overgrazing, soil erosion, and invasive plant species.
The organization also provides training to its suppliers on wider
environmental issues, sustainable production, and organic farming.
Waste management is an issue of particular importance, and sessions
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with suppliers focus on discouraging littering and the burning of
plastic waste. Suppliers receive training in organic kernel harvesting,
including identifying suitable areas for collection. Organic harvesting
must take place in fields that have been lying fallow for a number
of years, which have been treated only with organic fertilizers, or
in areas of the bush where no chemicals have been used. Organic
kernels must be labelled appropriately and stored in rooms that
have not been sprayed with pesticides for malaria control.
Self-help groups and local ownership
An additional initiative of SIP has been to catalyse self-help groups
within the local communities, with membership drawn in part from SIP
suppliers. To date, over 40 such groups have been established, and they
have helped several hundred women invest their income in individual or
collaborative business ventures, with the assistance of savings and loan
schemes.
An innovative aspect of SIP’s operations is its emphasis on combining
the governance of the enterprise with training opportunities for its
members. Collective ownership of the company by its members is a
radical step in rural Swaziland. Many of the company’s laboratory workers
and administrative staff previously worked as marula harvesters and have
benefitted from training and capacity building. The majority of board
members on the Board of Directors are community representatives, while
the remaining four slots are reserved for professional representatives,
whose role includes providingcoaching, guidance and assistance to the
community representatives.
“Everyone needs to learn how to make the world more environmentally friendly because
we depend on nature for our health, our jobs, the air we breathe and the water we
drink…so let’s work together as one to help nature. It can’t fight for itself.”
Ms. Sindile Mamba, Member Services Manager, Swazi Indigenous Products
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
The marula tree is a locally valued species; so much so, in fact, that
it has historically been protected by customary restrictions on
harvesting, which are enforced by local chiefs. Other trees endemic
to the areas, however, have not been subject to the same degree of
protection, so have faced growing pressure due to overharvesting,
deforestation and land degradation. By increasing the economic
value of the marula tree – and by bringing other native tree species
such as ximenia and trichilia into the Swazi Secrets value chain –
Swazi Indigenous Products has done a great deal to ensure their
protection. The added income generated through the sale of seed
kernels has served to enhance the enforcement of traditional
protection mechanisms.
Based on the number, location and productivity of local trees, SIP
has calculated that the seeds used for its marula oil production
represent roughly ten per cent of the seeds produced in its harvesting
areas, and just one per cent of the seeds produced annually in the
lowveld areas of Swaziland, representing a very low impact on the
continued natural propagation of marula trees in the region. Despite
this, SIP strives to go beyond a “do no harm” approach to address
environmental concerns that do not result from its own activities.
The company, as part of its compliance with UEBT criteria, has
drafted a work plan outlining a series of activities to counteract local
environmental threats. Member groups are required to carry out
conservation activities in proportion to the size of their harvesting
sites. These efforts have been complemented by a tree planting
programme – with over 1,500 native trees planted by 2012 – and
awareness-raising campaigns to educate the local population on
the importance of planting and properly maintaining these trees to
ensure a continued supply of marula seeds. Member groups share
responsibility for nurturing planted trees, for example by erecting
barriers to protect young trees from grazing livestock. Monitoring
plots are being established where marula trees will be studied in
different environments to give further insights into factors that
promote or hinder their growth.
The group’s environmental education initiatives ensure that
the impacts from harvesting remain minimal. Its members are
provided with training in organic harvesting, processing, and tree
regeneration. Suppliers receive a premium on the kernels they
sell to SIP, which provides an incentive for more collectors to use
organic methods. SIP also educates its members on the dangers of
over-grazing, soil erosion and invasive alien species. The company
is currently planning a livelihoods diversification project that will
engage livestock owners on issues pertaining to recent changes in
livestock policy for communal grazing areas, undertaken to reduce
the impact on native vegetation.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
By empowering women, SIP has profound impacts not only on its
members’ lives, but on the wider community. Women are central
agents of change in key development issues in rural Swaziland,
including food security, HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction and democratic
governance. By empowering rural women to earn a sustainable
income and operate their own enterprise, SIP is delivering multiple
development dividends. Women in rural Swaziland face social
and legal barriers which are further compounded by the country’s
astronomical HIV/AIDS rate. Swaziland is a male-dominated society
and women’s empowerment initiatives are desperately needed.
Ninety-eight per cent of SIP members are women and the company
has provided them with a voice, financial security and social
legitimacy.
Individual and collective empowerment
The company has provided a once economically marginalized group
of women with much higher incomes, a degree of financial autonomy,
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and a greater role in resource governance and decision-making. The
opportunity to engage in training and capacity building, and to
take on positions of responsibility within the company, has enabled
members to raise their status within their respective communities.
As a result, members have reported that their self-confidence
and self-esteem have risen. Another dimension of empowerment
resulting from the initiative has been the strength women members
have gained from collectively forming an association. Local women
have reported that meetings of suppliers and member groups have
to some degree replaced the conversations that women used to
have at the river while fetching water or washing clothes, providing
opportunities to exchange advice and support. By uniting women,
the SIP enterprise has given them a stronger negotiating position
within their communities and households.
Higher incomes, savings and loan services
Since its establishment in 2004, SIP has paid out ZAR 3.7 million (or
USD 420,000) to rural Swazi women. Women are paid directly for
the marula seed kernels they harvest. Over 2,400 women benefit
from this supply-chain, and while the amount of income varies from
woman to woman, members report a significantly positive change in
their quality of life. Married women have reported that their decisionmaking
power over household spending has improved since they
began earning independent income, and their dependence on their
husbands has lessened as they no longer need to ask for money to
purchase basic household provisions. A 2010 study of SIP members
found that 95 per cent of women reported a greater sense of self
sufficiency as a result of their involvement with the company. Further,
several women also reported that they had progressed from being
net borrowers within their communities to being net lenders, with
neighbours now approaching them for financial assistance, signifying
a meaningful shift in social status. SIP also assists its members to
strategically invest the income they generate. Working through
self-help groups, SIP has provided savings and loan schemes to
support several hundred women to invest their income in small-scale
enterprises (both individual and collaborative), further increasing
their earning power and financial security.
Health, education and food security benefits
Higher incomes have translated into improvements in community
health and education. A 2010 study found that participation in SIP
activities contributed to improved nutrition, children’s education
and access to health care for participating women and their families.
Food was cited as the main item purchased with income from SIP
activities, while school fees were named as the second most frequent
use of this income. In a region where over a third of the population
lives in extreme poverty and hunger, and only the first three years of
primary education are provided free of charge, SIP income is having
a profound impact on community wellbeing.
Many SIP suppliers are grandmothers struggling to provide for
grandchildren whose parents have fallen at the hands of the AIDS
epidemic. A significant proportion of SIP members are themselves
infected with the virus. Importantly, the gathering and cracking
of marula fruit to procure the kernels is not overly taxing and can
be carried out by those experiencing diminished energy levels as
a result of infection. A number of respondents to the 2010 study
reported feeling better equipped to defend themselves against HIV/
AIDS as a result of their involvement in the enterprise. Access to an
independent source of income puts women in a better position to
negotiate condom use, thereby protecting them from HIV infection.
Nutrition is also an important aspect of compliance with antiretroviral
(ARV) treatment to avoid AIDS. Seventy-five per cent of respondents
credited SIP income with improving their families’ nutrition.
Capacity building and training
The training and governance opportunities that SIP provides to its
members are building the skills and capacity of local women. Training
in organic harvesting and production allow harvesters to maximize
their income while reducing the impact of their activities on the
environment. More importantly, the involvement of harvesters in the
governance of the company paves the way for harvesters (usually
the poorest members of their communities) to progress towards
better paid economic activities. Indeed, many SIP employees in the
laboratory and administrative teams initially worked in the seed
kernel supply chain as harvesters, eventually working their way up
through the skills training and capacity building that SIP provides.
SIP has fought to retain the entire length of its supply-chain within
the community to ensure that harvesters have the opportunity to
progress to positions at higher levels within the enterprise. As just
one example of its commitment to community ownership and
the economic mobility of its members, SIP successfully rejected a
proposal form a private enterprise looking to undertake extraction
of marula kernels mechanically in a factory, thereby removing the
community benefit stream.
“The conservation of biodiversity is central to sustainable development, human
wellbeing and poverty eradication. Having a healthy ecosystem helps biodiversity to
flourish. Biodiversity and ecosystem health are the cornerstones of our business.”
Ms. Sindile Mamba, Member Services Manager, Swazi Indigenous Products
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
SIP is playing a pioneering role in the development of value-added
products in rural Swaziland. In addition to providing sustainable
sources of income and employment to local people, the company
intends to affect a shift away from the all-too-common natural
resource supply-chain model in Africa whereby local producers
provide industries with raw materials and see nothing of the benefit
streams resulting from value-added secondary processing.
The enterprise remains dependent on the financial support of
partner organizations; however, with self-generated income
currently at over 50 per cent of total expenditures and growing, SIP
is moving steadily towards financial independence. The long term
sustainability of the enterprise is promising based on the growing
demand and new markets for Swazi Secrets products, the company’s
proven ability to adapt its operations to suit economic conditions,
and the central focus on building local ownership and capacity by
training its members to assume leading governance roles within the
organization.
Institutional sustainability
This capacity-building aspect of the enterprise’s operations is also
central to its sustainability, as it ensures community ownership of and
support for the initiative, while gradually reducing the dependence
of the company on outside support. In 2009, SIP handed over
complete ownership of the company to its suppliers, through their
member groups. In this respect, community buy-in and ownership
are quite literally the case, as harvesters pay a membership fee to
join SIP, and are entitled to a share in the company’s profits and input
into the running of the enterprise.
The Swazi Secrets range is now marketed in 31 countries across five
continents, with new sales opportunities constantly being pursued.
This diversity of markets and buyers provides a degree of security
to SIP, which learned the risks of being contracted exclusively to a
single buyer when its sales fell 60 per cent during the 2008 economic
recession. The enterprise displayed adaptability and resilience in
its response to this recession, by diversifying from the sale of pure
marula oil to the development of the Swazi Secrets range of marula
and other seed oil-based products. The enterprise continues to sell
marula oil in bulk, however, and recent years have seen a resurgence
in these sales. Coupled with rising Swazi Secrets sales, total annual
sales in 2012 were a record ZAR 1.87m (USD 220,000).
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SIP places a great deal of emphasis on training and capacity
building, in the hopes that its harvesters, often the poorest members
of their communities, will advance to better-paid positions within
the company. The majority of SIP full-time employees previously
worked as kernel suppliers. This advancement has been enabled
through a range of training and capacity building activities, as
well as through the involvement of harvesters in all levels of the
enterprise’s governance. Association members elect the Board
of Directors at the Annual General Meeting, and also have the
opportunity to serve as office holders within Member Groups or to
train as Organic Representatives in their own communities, where
they promote organic harvesting methods and ensure compliance
with organic certification standards. SIP also supports local women’s
self-help groups which assist SIP members in investing their income
and developing small-scale businesses. The self-help groups provide
the women with savings and loan services.
In 2012, for the first time, a community representative Board member
assumed the position of chairperson. The woman in question
has been an active organiser for the enterprise in one of its main
supply areas since its early days, demonstrating the commitment
and upward mobility encouraged by organisation that underpins its
social sustainability.
REPLICATION
The number of women collecting marula kernels for SIP has grown
steadily since the company was founded. Since 2007, a portion of
SIP oil production has been certified as organic, and harvesters
complying with organic harvesting practices sell their kernels at a
premium of twelve per cent. The percentage of SIP’s 2,400 suppliers
that choose to use organic methods is increasing each year.
Beyond its own communities, SIP shares its knowledge and
experience by hosting visits to its facility and through membership
in trade organizations. SIP has hosted visits to its factory and monthly
buying meetings for a range of interested NGOs, public and private
actors, including women’s producer groups from Mozambique and
Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. The single criterion for groups hosted
by SIP is that their primary purpose be to genuinely support the
empowerment and advancement of rural women. As a member
of Phytotrade Africa, the trade association of the natural products
industry in Southern Africa, SIP has played a pioneering role as a best
practice in local enterprise development. SIP also presents the Swazi
Secrets range at trade fairs around the world.
PARTNERS
The WK Kellogg Foundation has supported the marula project since
it began in 2004, initially by funding a feasibility study. In 2006, the
Foundation granted USD 390,000 to SIP to continue the initiative,
while a 2009 grant, also of USD 390,000, funded the handover of
ownership of the company to its members. The most recent grant
of USD 100,000 in 2010 was provided as bridging support to assist
the company in its move towards self-sufficiency. UNDP has also
provided financial support for the development and marketing of
the Swazi Secrets brand.
Other major partners include SIP distributors, donors and
trade organizations, with which SIP endeavours to build longterm
relationships. SIP is a full member of the World Fair Trade
Organization (WFTO) and the Swaziland International Fair Trade
Association (SWIFT), and works with both to maintain a focus on
fair trade within grassroots producer organizations. The support of
the Shared Interest Foundation, a UK-based ethical investment cooperative,
has been critical to the work of SWIFT, facilitating business
skills training for more than 130 handicraft businesses in Swaziland.
SIP has been a member of Phytotrade Africa since its inception and
has a representative on the organization’s board.
The enterprise chooses distributors who value the company’s
approach, and considers its distributors as partners. GAFPRO (Good
African Products) distributes Swazi Secrets to 45 stores – mainly
fair trade and natural products outlets – throughout Germany, and
has helped SIP reduce the price of Swazi Secrets products on the
European market by holding a central European stock in Stuttgart
from which it supplies the rest of the European Union. This has
reduced shipping costs and customs clearance and currency
transaction fees, resulting in an average reduction of six per cent
in the shelf price of Swazi Secrets products in Europe. In 2012, the
Fair Trade organisation Contigo became SIP’s second major German
retailer, with Swazi Secrets now being sold in all of their 18 outlets.
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162

TORRA CONSERVANCY
Namibia
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Afrikaans l German
Torra Conservancy, located on communal lands in the Kunene region of northwest
Namibia, is home to more than 1,200 residents, living in small settlements scattered
across the 3,493-km2 territory. In 1995, the conservancy began a search for investors to
develop an ecotourism enterprise in the territory, represented by the Ward 11 Residents’
Association Trust in negotiations. An eco-lodge was constructed in partnership with
Wilderness Safaris Namibia, a private tourism operator, the first joint-venture agreement
of its kind in Namibia.
Wilderness Safaris Namibia operates and maintains Damaraland Camp as a profitable
ecotourism enterprise. Since its opening in 1996, the camp has been staffed mainly by
local community members and, since 2002, managed by conservancy residents. Jobs
at Damaraland Camp provide income for 23 full-time employees and managers, while
Torra Conservancy also generates revenues through rent received from Wilderness
Safari Namibia.

Background and Context
Torra Conservancy is located in the vast arid landscape of northwest
Namibia. The conservancy is responsible for the oversight and
management of around 350,000 hectares of spectacular and
ecologically unique terrain, and is the setting for a pioneering
community-based approach to wildlife management and
ecotourism that has resulted in significant increases in endemic
animal populations and simultaneously improved the livelihoods of
local communities.
The majority of the conservancy falls in the Khorixas constituency of
the Kunene region, with the northern section falling in the Sesfontein
constituency. The territory under community management forms a
significant percentage of land managed for conservation purposes
between the Kunene and Orange rivers. The conservancy name,
Torra, translates to ‘red rock’ and references the red basalt rock that
covers much of the land surface. The region is extremely dry, with
annual rainfalls as low as 50 millimeters along much of Namibia’s
Skeleton Coast.
The majority of residents in Torra originated from the Riemvasmaak
community in South Africa. They were forcibly removed from their
lands in 1973 and 1974 by the South African administration during
apartheid. A good number of residents are also Damara people, while
others still are more recent immigrants. A little more than 1,200 people
live in settlements scattered across Torra Conservancy. The majority of
settlements are located along the road from Khorixas to Palmwag, the
largest of which is Bergsig. Even in this ‘capital’ of the territory, there
are only a few small shops and community service centers.
Project catalysts: poaching, drought and poverty
In the early 1980s, communities in Namibia were witnessing rapid
declines in wildlife populations due to poaching and droughts, the
latter having intensified in frequency and length over the previous
two decades. The complexion and scale of poaching also changed
in the 1970s. The liberation war being waged in Namibia meant that
firearms were more widely available; weapons which eventually
made their way into the hands of ivory poachers. This had predictably
negative consequences for many wildlife species, particularly larger
game. Elephant populations in the Kunene region, for instance,
dropped from an estimated 1,200 in 1970 to only 250 in 1982. Over
that same period, the number of black rhinos dropped from 300 to
65. Similar declines in populations of giraffe, zebra, springbok, oryx
and other species were observed.
From a socioeconomic perspective, the relocated Riemvasmaak
population found it very difficult to make ends meet in the
inhospitable landscape. There were little to no available jobs,
transportation was limited, and the basis of the economy was
cattle, goat and sheep livestock. Even those venturing into smallscale
agriculture and the cultivation of fruit and vegetable gardens
were confronted with incursions by elephants and predator species
such as lions and cheetahs. Elephants would raid gardens, damage
property, destroy water installations, and on occasion cause injury or
death to local residents.
It was against this context that a wildlife guard system was initiated
by a Namibian NGO, Integrated Rural Development and Nature
Conservation (IRDNC), in partnership with local communities, to
reclaim wildlife populations and local livelihoods. The guard system
involved traditional elders appointing community members as de
facto wildlife extension officers, a form of customary ‘deputizing’
which conferred authority to combat poaching and monitor
populations of endemic animals. The model proved remarkably
successful at reducing incidents of poaching and increasing wildlife
abundance. This locally-evolved and locally-directed system became
a cornerstone of Namibia’s Community-Based Natural Resource
Management Program (CBNRM), today recognized around the world
for its efficacy and the successful devolution of authority.
In 1996, Namibia passed legislation that recognized the boundaries
of approved conservancies and granted conditional rights to the
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area’s residents to enter into entrepreneurial ventures in ecotourism
and sustainable hunting. Previously, tenure uncertainty meant many
local residents felt susceptible to eviction from their lands by either
government or outside parties. With legal protections in place,
communities were able to undertake alternative livelihood plans
and make long-term investments in land use planning. With greater
certainty and newfound empowerment, the communities in the
area which would become the Torra Conservancy became the first
in Namibia to enter into a joint venture with a private enterprise. In
1996, in partnership with Wilderness Safaris Namibia, the community
opened Damaraland Camp: a luxury tented lodge for safaris that has
quickly garnered attention as a top ecotourism destination.
Governance and organizational structure
The conservancy is overseen and administered by a seven-person
Management Committee. The committee is elected by the 450
conservancy members every five years and overseas the safari camp
as well as the protection of wildlife through a team of game guards.
Financial decisions on how ecotourism revenues are distributed
and invested are also made by the committee after consultation
with the conservancy’s forty communities. The majority of decisions
are guided by information obtained through field and office staff
through a monitoring system known as ‘the event book’ which
covers institutional and natural resource management.
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Key Activities and Innovations
Torra Conservancy is located on the communal lands of the Kunene
region in northwest Namibia. More than 1,200 indigenous peoples
of Damara, Riemvasmaaker, Herero and Ovambo tribal origin and
identification are spread over the 350,000-hectare territory. The
vast majority of Torra residents earn their living as pastoral farmers
of cattle, sheep and goat. Pastoralist activities are supplemented
by small-scale vegetable farming. The conservancy aims to balance
the traditional livelihoods of local residents with an ecotourism
venture that bases its popularity on vibrant wildlife populations. As
of 2006, Torra was home to 700 elephants, more than 1,000 giraffe,
roughly 75,000 springbok, 15,000 oryx and the world’s largest wild
black rhino population that continues to grow. The conservancy also
boasts populations of hyena, jackal, cheetah, leopard and lion.
A community-private sector partnership for ecotourism
In anticipation of national legislation that would create legal space
for community-based conservancies, in 1995 the communities in
Torra undertook a process of identifying investors interested in
developing an ecotourism enterprise in the territory. The Ward 11
Residents’ Association Trust was legally constituted to represent the
community in negotiations. Every household in every settlement of
the territory was able to register association members.
After a great deal of interest from different investors, the association
selected Wilderness Safaris Namibia to develop an eco-lodge. This
partnership represented the first joint-venture agreement in the
country between a community and a private tourism company. The
contract signed between the two parties provided the community
with a rental fee for the use of the land based on a percentage of
total revenue, and 10% of the net daily rate on each bednight sold.
The contract also stipulated that local residents be employed in the
lodge and be provided with management training. Provision was
also made for the community to incrementally acquire ownership
of the lodge.
Between 2005 and 2010, the conservancy was given 20% equity
in Damaraland Camp per annum until the eco-lodge was wholly
community-owned. At this point, Torra Conservancy chose to sell
60% back to Wilderness Safaris, forming a joint venture equity
partnership.
Damaraland Camp
Wilderness Safaris Namibia operates and maintains Damaraland
Camp as a viable and profitable ecotourism enterprise. Since
its opening in 1996, the camp has been staffed mainly by local
community members and, since 2002, managed by local residents.
Jobs at Damaraland Camp provide additional and direct income for
30 full-time employees and managers, 23 of whom are conservancy
members. Additional revenues are generated through rent received
from Wilderness Safaris Namibia. This rental arrangement is a key
element of the land tenure agreement which underpins the joint
venture.
When constructing Damaraland Camp, the partners gave careful
consideration to principles of ecological integrity and sustainability.
Sandbags, eucalyptus poles and reeds were used to reduce the need
for cement and other synthetic materials. Structures were designed
in the style of traditional indigenous architecture. Accommodations
are elevated on poles to minimize impact on soils and to allow the
spread of vegetation. Solar water pumps were installed and a waste
water system established to reduce the amount of water used by the
camp. The conservancy also cleared non-native plant species from
the camp area and is working to extend this eradication throughout
the conservancy.
Since 2010, the lodge has been upgraded, with both Wilderness
Safaris and the conservancy investing capital for the upgrade. The
conservancy used funds raised from the sale of 60% equity to the tour
company to settle their portion of the shareholders’ contribution,
one of the first instances in Namibia of a conservancy reinvesting in
166

an ecotourism project without donor funding or loans. Also in 2010,
Torra Conservancy was assisted by Wilderness Safaris to raise a bank
loan of NAD 500,000 based on the collateral of their shareholding
in the eco-lodge. This money was used to build the Damaraland
Adventurer Camp, a secondary ecotourism operation, and is the
first instance of a Namibian conservancy raising their own funds for
construction purposes.
Hunting quotas and live game sales
After three years of successful ecotourism partnership with
Wilderness Safari Namibia, the conservancy branched out into
sustainable hunting in 1999. Each conservancy is granted an annual
hunt quota. By selling this hunt quota at competitive rates, the
conservancy has been able to augment its revenue streams. After its
first three years, the hunting enterprise represented more than one
third of conservancy cash income, bringing in roughly USD 30,000
in 2002 alone. The venture has proven extremely lucrative for the
local community without impacting the long-term sustainability of
wildlife populations.
Torra Conservancy was also the first communal conservancy in the
country to carry out live game sales to other conservation areas in
need of stock to repopulate their lands. The annual trapping and sale
of live animals – all in accordance with legal quotas – provides the
conservancy with an additional source of profit. The practice has also
played an important function in repopulating other protected areas.
The conservancy has had notable success in this regard with springbok.
Wildlife monitoring
The conservancy employs six trained game guards. This team
gathers information and data on wildlife sightings, incidents
of human-wildlife conflict, incidents of poaching, and other
noteworthy activities in the conservation area. Guards also collect
reports from local households and pastoralists from the furthest
reaches of the conservancy to effectively and accurately monitor
wildlife and natural resource use in the territory. All six guards report
their findings directly to the Torra Management Committee. This
‘active management’ approach allows for the kind of responsiveness
and flexibility that permits, for example, hunting and consumption
quotas for certain families or communities that may be particularly
isolated or marginalized.
Benefit sharing
In 2003, profits from Torra Conservancy activities were equitably
distributed as a one-time cash dividend (of NAD 630, or
approximately USD 75, roughly equivalent to a month’s wages) to
all 300 adult members of the community. Conservancy income has
since been invested in conservancy running costs and community
development projects, such as building roads, constructing watering
holes, and providing clean water access. Ecotourism generates direct
income for residents employed by the eco-lodge, and indirectly for
local service providers.
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Torra Conservancy is a red-rock landscape, rich in biodiversity.
Because of arid weather conditions and the scarcity of soil, vegetation
is sparse and most plants are low-lying. The plains are dominated by
grasses and Euphorbia bushes, while paper-bark trees grow on hill
slopes. The territory is also home to some very unique biodiversity,
notably including the welwitschia plant which is found nowhere else
on the planet. Ana, mopane and camel thorn trees are among the
more abundant species in the area.
Poaching and extensive droughts were key drivers of biodiversity
loss and dwindling wildlife populations throughout northwest
Namibia in the 1960s and 1970s. Several populations of flagship
species – such as the elephant and black rhino – were in sharp
decline and on the verge of extinction. While national parks had been
established, the migrating nature of many endemic species meant
that herds were left vulnerable and unprotected for large periods of
the year. Community-based conservancies run by groups like Torra
Conservancy proved to be the vital link capable of reestablishing
thriving wildlife numbers and ensuring the safe passage of migrating
animals throughout the year.
Species recovery in the conservancy
Torra Conservancy is situated between two important national
parks: the coastal Skeleton National Park to the west, and the Etosha
National Park to the east. Spanning more than 352,000 hectares,
the conservancy contains a number of diverse landscapes and
ecosystems, from desert lowlands to mountainous highlands. The
conservancy is also home to an equally diverse range of animals,
birds, insects and vegetation. Among these endemic species, many
were previously threatened and endangered. One example is the
Hartmann’s mountain zebra, a rare sighting in the early 1980s, but
a species that is now making an impressive recovery. Plains zebra
too have been growing in number within the conservancy, from
an estimated 450 in 1982 to 1,700 in 2006. Another species on the
rebound is the south-western black rhino; once critically endangered
due to demand for its horns, its status has since been elevated to
endangered. The work of Torra and neighbouring conservancies has
played an important role in this.
Another positive result of the conservancy’s work has been recovery
of the local elephant population, which had dropped from 1,200
animals in 1970 to just 250 in 1982. Since the wildlife guard system has
been implemented in Torra Conservancy, the elephant population
has grown, stabilized, and is now estimated at 700 animals. Similar
trends have been recorded with antelope species such as springbok
and oryx, which had fallen to 650 and 400 animals respectively in
the early 1980s. As of 2004, numbers in those populations had risen
dramatically to 74,000 springbok and 15,300 oryx.
Although reliable historic estimates are not available for many other
species considered hard to track like lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena
and jackal, their populations are considered healthy and growing
throughout the conservancy and surrounding areas. For example, the
cheetah population in Namibia that was once considered threatened
has today grown to be the world’s largest, at an estimated 2,500. Other
species now found in abundance within the conservancy include
warthog, klipspringer, kudu, duiker, steenbok, and ostrich.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Torra Conservancy contains dry, arid and largely unproductive land
that is not suited to conventional farming. Pastoralism practices in
the region are an adaptation; a response to the need to move animals
between areas where it had rained and grazing was possible. While
pastoralism is still practised, there are a number of settlements that
rely on pumped water and other infrastructure. The local population
still relies on livestock rearing – including goats, fat-tailed sheep,
cattle, donkeys and horses – though there is significant variation in
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ownership between families. The poorer of residents likely keep less
than ten animals, while wealthier farmers tend to several hundred.
A high percentage of households supplement their incomes with
remittances from family members that have moved to urban centers
and have higher earning capacity.
Of all new sources of income since incorporating as a conservancy,
the Damaraland Camp has been the most lucrative. Since opening
in 1996, the luxury tented lodge has become one of Namibia’s most
popular safari destinations. Camp revenues help cover the running
costs of the conservancy through salaries and other expenses.
Employment and income from ecotourism
Damaraland Camp currently employs 30 individuals, 23 of whom
(77%) are from the Torra Conservancy. The building of the camp
required 20–30 casual labourers, some of whom went on to find
permanent employment in the camp, or in other Wilderness Safaris
camps in Namibia. The Conservancy itself employs approximately
nine local people in administration and management, while
temporary staff are also employed during the hunting season.
The management committee ensures that some form of employment
is offered to at least one family member from all of the small
communities in the conservancy territory. This rotating system of
employment and remuneration aims to equitably distribute cash
income and benefits from the ecotourism enterprise. Salaries received
by workers are significantly higher than average household earnings
from the traditional income-generating activities of pastoralism and
small-scale farming (see Table 1 for a comparison of average incomes
for camp staff and non-camp staff conservancy members.)
Table 1: Average income amounts (NAD), 2009
Staff
Community
Average annual household income 26,556.84 17,044.56
Average monthly household income 2,213.07 1,420.38
Average daily household income 73.77 47.34
Source: Snyman, 2012a.
Staff costs (salaries paid to conservancy members, staff meals,
housing, training, uniform, etc.) increased from NAD 537,709
(around USD 61,000) in 2007-8 to a high of NAD 804,499 (USD
91,000) in 2009-10 (all figures Snyman, 2012a). Combined with
estimated values for local services and goods (e.g. laundry, rubbish
removal, firewood), and the annual Joint Venture payments made by
Wilderness Safaris, the Torra Conservancy received a total of NAD 6.5
million (USD 746,000) in the period 2005-11. (A drop in payments in
2010-11 is explained by a 10% fall in occupancy rates for that year,
explained by the 2010 Soccer World Cup in neighbouring South
Africa and general economic factors.)
Employment opportunities and the prospect of better incomes has
helped to reduce out-migration by youth who might otherwise be
Fig. 1: Payments received by the conservancy (NAD), 2007-11
1,600,000
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
Source: Snyman, 2012a.
2007-8 2008-9 2009-10 2010-11
Jo int ventu re p aym en ts
Staff costs (salaries paid to conservancy m em bers, etc.)
Total payments (including local services and goods)
169

drawn to cities in search of gainful employment. With each staff
member at Damaraland Camp supporting an average of six people
(Snyman, 2012a), the camp indirectly benefits around 139 members
of Torra Conservancy, or 12% of the total population, excluding the
outsourcing of services (such as road maintenance and laundry) that
also impact on local people.
Hunting quotas and the sale of live game have also bolstered local
incomes. Torra Conservancy obtains annual quotas from the Ministry
of Environment and Tourism for the hunting of trophy species and for
more common game species that may be hunted by residents without
permits. The quotas are designed to ensure that a very small percentage
of mature animals are hunted. The conservancy is then able to sell the
trophy species quota in part or in whole to Namibia Hunting Safaris.
Torra Conservancy has also pioneered the sale of live game to
communal area conservancies that are in need of transplants to
repopulate a numbers of certain dwindling species. The first sale of
live game in Namibia was between Torra and Nyae Nyae Conservancy
in 2002. In two stages, 441 springbok were captured and sent to a
freehold conservancy which in turn provided Nyae Nyae with 226
red hartebeest in exchange for the springbok. A subsequent sale of
763 springbok earned Torra Conservancy USD 37,000.
The successful establishment and functioning of the conservancy is
dependent on the commitment and support of community members
within the territory. With the recovery of oryx and springbok
populations, residents have benefited from ‘own-use’ hunting quotas
and meat distributed after community hunts. Coolers have also
been given out to reduce meat spoilage. The conservancy has also
invested in local infrastructure and service provision. A community
center and kindergarten have been built. In its first three years of
operation, the conservancy provided USD 3,600 to local schools.
POLICY IMPACTS
The leadership of communities in the early 1980s to stem the
widespread loss of wildlife in the Kunene region laid the foundation
for several important policy changes over the following 25 years.
This model of community stewardship – as expressed through the
wildlife guard system – achieved regional and national recognition
as a new way of organizing natural resource management. The
efficacy of local community efforts to protect and preserve wildlife
and natural resources quickly garnered the attention of national
NGOs, USAID, World Wildlife Fund and the national government.
After achieving independence in 1990, one of the most pressing
challenges for Namibia was addressing the state of the environment,
sustainable development, and building an inclusive economy for
a population with relatively few income-generating options. The
initiative of community-based initiatives like the one that would
become Torra Conservancy led to the national Community-Based
Natural Resource Management program. The latter was legally
established with the passing of the Nature Conservation Amendment
Act of 1996 which explicitly provides communities with rights to land
and wildlife use for communal benefit. Torra was one of the first
groups in Namibia to be granted formal recognition as a conservancy
under the new law. As of 2012, there were seventy-six registered
communal conservancies in Namibia.
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
Torra Conservancy has been self-sufficient, functioning without the
assistance of external donors since 2001. This has been made possible
through revenues generated by the safari camp, controlled trophy
hunting, and live game sales. Damaraland Camp is a top destination
for adventure ecotourism in southern Africa. The conservancy is
entirely community owned and operated. All salaried conservancy
staff are local community members.
After nearly thirty years of safeguarding wildlife from poachers and
fifteen years of managing the official conservancy, Torra has proven
itself to be a reliable steward of its land by ensuring the maintenance
of wildlife populations while simultaneously providing local
residents with sufficient access to water resources and protection
from predator losses.
The partnership with Wilderness Safaris Namibia has provided
the community with access to technical skills training and the
commercial, financial and managerial knowledge benefits that
come with a private sector partner. Technical support and capacity
building are also provided by the Namibia Community-Based
Tourism Organization and the Namibia Nature Foundation. Several
other partners, notably including IRDNC, provide Torra with
networking and knowledge-sharing support as it relates to wildlife
management.
Torra Conservancy has had to respond to several new challenges.
One ongoing issue has been growth in predator species such as
cheetahs and lions. While from a conservation perspective this is
positive, from the community perspective, and notably from those
farmers engaged in raising livestock, this poses a threat to sustainable
livelihoods. As populations of predator species grow, so do attacks
on cattle and other livestock, which translates to lost earning
capacity and income for local farmers. Attacks like these often lead
to what are called ‘revenge killings’ or simply create tension between
conservation efforts and people-centered development priorities.
This can have the effect of undermining efforts for coexistence or
outweigh the economic incentives being derived from ecotourism.
To address this issue, Torra Conservancy has developed a financial
compensation scheme to reduce the loss on local farmers for the
stock losses due to predators.
Another sustainability challenge will be addressing the calls from
the community for greater financial transparency. Communication
channels between the management committee, staff and members of
resident settlements will need to be maintained, if not strengthened
in the coming years. If these channels of communication are closed, it
will be difficult to advance towards shared objectives, and a common
vision and trust will be eroded. To build trust in the community, the
conservancy will need to continue developing new employment
and income-generating opportunities and maintain economic
incentives for conservation. There remains considerable scope for
sustainable economic development in the territory, including the
expansion of ecotourism, small-scale businesses and the provision
of local support services.
In terms of long-term environmental sustainability, there is a need
to expand conservation and natural resource management beyond
the boundaries of the conservancy. The migratory nature of wildlife
in the area necessitates landscape-level and regionally-integrated
conservation strategies. Beyond wildlife, there is a need for broader
natural resource management strategies in water and grasslands.
REPLICATION
The steps taken by the leaders of the Torra Conservancy to preserve
wildlife and natural landscapes led to more than 40 other communities
following suit, and today form the basis for the national approach to
natural resource management that both encourages and empowers
local communities to be the stewards of their traditional lands. By
2012, there were 76 registered communal conservancies in Namibia,
covering a total of 155,205 km 2 .
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PARTNERS
• Wilderness Safaris: joint venture partner in construction,
marketing, and management of Damaraland Camp in
1996; provides lease fees to Torra Conservancy for exclusive
development rights of a lodge in a 10 hectare radius and
traversing rights in the conservancy.
• Save the Rhino: trains game guards in the monitoring of black
rhino.
• The Namibian Association of Community Based Natural Resource
Management Support Organisations (NASCO): provides Torra
with advice on governance and institutional issues, natural
resource management and financial and business planning.
• Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation
(IRDNC): assisted in obtaining legal conservancy status; has
given training in management and monitoring systems, as well
as technical assistance in negotiating with private sector.
• WWF’s LIFE Project: has provided applied research in the social
and biological fields to develop appropriate and relevant natural
resource management strategies, for program monitoring, and
for monitoring the natural resource base.
• Ministry of Environment and Tourism: provides technical
consulting on resource management; grants annual hunting
quotas, and grants concessions for business development.
172

UJAMAA COMMUNITY
RESOURCE TEAM
Tanzania
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Swahili
Ujamaa Community Resource Team works across northern Tanzania to help secure land
and resource rights for pastoralist, agro-pastoralist, and hunter-gatherer communities,
many of whom are negatively affected by the existence of the country’s large protected
areas. The group’s approach has capitalized on Tanzania’s village land legislation, which
allows communities to develop by-laws and land use plans for their customary lands,
and has also focused on improving the ecosystem management capacity of these
communities.
By guiding socially marginalized groups through the arduous process of securing
official rights to land, the NGO has secured several landmark agreements, including the
legal demarcation of the first village for hunter-gatherers in Tanzania. Capacity-building,
conflict resolution, and sustainable livelihoods programming have underpinned the
initiative’s work, helping to demonstrate the effectiveness of these rural communities
as land and resource managers.

Background and Context
Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) is a non-profit
environmental and social justice organization that works with
indigenous groups of different cultures in northern Tanzania. The
target communities are those who depend on communal resource
management regimes to support their livelihoods.
Threats facing ethnic minorities
UCRT’s work began in 1998, under what was known as TAZAMA
Trust, before its official registration in 2002. The organization
aims to strengthen the capacity of ethnic minorities in northern
Tanzania, principally pastoralists and hunter-gatherers such as
the Maasai, Barabaig, Akie, Sonjo and Hadzabe. The livelihoods of
these communities are under threat by overexploitation of natural
resources, political marginalization, and limited resources and access
to knowledge. Marginalization has been further exacerbated by the
geographical remoteness of many ethnic minority communities; the
village nearest to Arusha, for example, is 85 kilometres away, while
some are as far as 370 kilometres from the nearest urban centre.
The organization works with 40 villages in six districts across the
regions of Arusha, Manyara, and Shinyanga. Capacity building and
training is offered to each village in how best to positively influence
and leverage existing policies and legal processes. Local government
reform in Tanzania has created opportunities for resourcedependent
communities to secure collective property rights and
resource entitlements. Taking advantage of these opportunities,
however, requires knowledge of where and how best to advocate for
rights. For this reason, UCRT has focused on education and training
for community leaders – building their capacity to meaningfully
engage with policymaking processes and with the legal frameworks
that govern land and resource access.
Making law and policy work for marginalized communities
UCRT’s goal is improved welfare of villages in marginalized areas
through community-based natural resource management.
Participatory natural resource governance is a central tenet of
the organization’s work, as is building on customary institutions,
community-based land management practices, and traditional
resource governance systems. UCRT views law and policy as
instruments for empowering resource-dependent communities,
while also acknowledging the barriers they can (and often do) pose
to local empowerment. By supporting community-based natural
resource management, local institutions, and community land
rights, the organization aims not only to protect the rich biodiversity
around the Serengeti and Tarangire ecosystems, but also to protect
communities from the growing trend of illegitimate and exploitative
land appropriation.
174

Key Activities and Innovations
UCRT works primarily with pastoralists, agro-pastoralists, and
hunter-gatherers. The goal is to help these typically marginalized
communities secure land and resource rights, improve their natural
resource management capacity, develop the skills and tools to
manage their resources more effectively, establish community
conserved areas based on indigenous land management practices,
and to enhance the economic benefits accruing from their lands and
ecosystems (largely through ecotourism). The geographic scope of
the initiative is northern Tanzania, including the biodiversity-rich
areas of the Serengeti and Tarangire. UCRT work falls into four
key areas: land use, natural resource management, community
empowerment, and advocacy.
Land use and securing tenure
One central component of the UCRT work is the development of
land use plans that ensure communities have secure property rights
and resource access. Since the Tanzanian Land Act of 1999, official
documentation is needed to support land claims. To obtain a village
land or customary right-of-occupancy certificate, communities
must produce land use plans stating who will be given what
land, and for what purpose. UCRT then has been involved in the
surveying, mapping and demarcation of community lands to ease
inter-community conflicts and the process of formalizing tenure. In
addition to support with drafting land use plans, UCRT also helps to
facilitate the implementation of plans within the villages.
Community-based natural resource management
A second key area in which Ujamaa works is the management of
natural resources. The intention is to ensure that villages are able
to identify and document the natural resources that are available to
them, and to take advantage of those that can sustainably leveraged
to greatest economic and social benefit. To assist in this process,
UCRT forms committees within village councils to oversee resource
plans and to monitor resource use. This resource mapping exercise
has also resulted in innovative partnerships between communities
and cultural tourism operators, establishing ethno-tourism
enterprises which provide communities with an additional source of
income. In these instances, UCRT has ensured that there is a balanced
relationship between the tourism enterprise and the communities,
particularly in the areas of land and resource access. Other successful
ventures have included a number of women’s village bomas: artisanal
cooperative groups which have formed to market local products. As
part of its resource management work, UCRT employs community
members as game scouts, providing bicycles, GPS devices and other
equipment to ensure the protection and monitoring of endemic
species. The organization is also involved in the development of
resource management by-laws. These laws a drawn up by UCRT with
village-level input, are reviewed at the way and district levels, and
are then put into practice by local government authorities.
Community empowerment & building on local institutions
Another dimension of UCRT work is community empowerment. The
majority of work in this area has involved work with village councils
– governing bodies that are created by the central government,
but which have often received very little formal training on good
governance standards, financial management planning (including
the allocation of village revenues), and land management
responsibilities. UCRT has filled this vacuum by providing workshops
for village council members on some of these issues, and by making
available basic narrative reports on their work. Each village council
is composed of three committees: security, financial management
and planning, and general development issues. UCRT provides
appropriate training in each of these areas for the village members
who participate in specific committees. Trainings also include
information on land and resource legislation, such as that contained
in local government reform programs. Through these trainings,
communities are supported to better understand their land rights
under Tanzanian law. In addition, information is provided on the
role and functioning of village land tribunals (Mabaraza ya ardhi)
175

and village assemblies, which are often the arbiters of village land
by-laws.
Lobbying and advocacy
Another important aspect of UCRT work is educating communities
on existing and emerging government policies so they are equipped
with the information needed to effectively lobby for their rights and
advocate for policy reform. Among the most important policies
included in this orientation is Tanzania’s National Strategy for Growth
and the Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA), a development framework
which constitutes the nation’s roadmap for delivering on a ‘Vision
2025’ plan. Inroads into this strategy have focused on economic
growth and the reduction of poverty, improved quality of life and
social wellbeing, and improved governance and accountability.
Guidance is also given on other important legislation such as: the
Property and Business Formalisation Programme (MKURABITA),
which has aimed at facilitating the transformation of property and
business entities in the informal sector into legally held and majority
operated entities in the formal sector; the Local Government Reform
Programme, which has aimed to empower local government
authorities to improve the quality, access to and equitable delivery
of public services; and the Strategic Plan for the Implementation
of Land Laws, which has been an attempt to coordinate Tanzania’s
various land laws – the Land Act (1999), the Village Land Act (1999),
and the Land Disputes Courts Act (2002).
Through on-site training, UCRT has been able to raise awareness of
these different policies and how they relate to community natural
resource management. Communities are advised on how they
can react to new laws, and on how to argue for the amendment of
contentious passages. For example, community capacity building has
been particularly important in cases where communities have been
dispossessed of land for commercial conservation purposes. And
while UCRT has served as an ‘early warning’ system for communities
on unfair land legislation, they have also evolved the function of
giving local communities a direct voice in legislative processes.
Communities have been empowered to contact and lobby local
politicians, and have been given the floor at parliamentary hearings
for the Wildlife Act (2010) and Tanzanian Rangeland Act (2010).
“Policy makers should consider the needs of local people before they impose policies.
By the same token, traditional means of conserving wildlife have been successful for
generations and should be recognised. Conservation and the safeguarding of local
livelihoods are not opposing goals and can be pursued together.”
Edward Loure Parmelo, Coordinator, UCRT
176

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Ujamaa has had a considerable impact on biodiversity in northern
Tanzania, primarily through the creation of community-conserved
areas in key wildlife corridors and habitats of the Serengeti
ecosystem. Notable among the conservation areas have been
Loliondo and Simanjiro, which contain important populations of
wildebeest, African wild dogs, cheetahs, and oryx.
An important facet of UCRT work has been to balance conservation
priorities, community resource needs and eco-tourism enterprise
ambitions. The organization has helped ecotourism ventures and
other commercial interests understand the incentives of conserving
vegetation for both livestock and wildlife, as opposed to converting
land to agriculture. Through its “easement” program, started in
2005, tour operating companies give USD 5,000 annually to villages
owning land adjacent to Tarangire (in which the wildebeest come to
graze) in return for community commitment to conserving the land.
Contracts are drawn up between the villages and tour operators to
ensure that the conservation of biodiversity and the socio-economic
well-being of participating communities are legally secured.
UCRT has also worked to mitigate wildlife-livestock conflict, which
inevitably leads to tensions between the local population and
wildlife. For example, wildebeest from Tarangire National Park
migrate to Simanjiro during the wet season, carrying diseases that
are fatal to cattle. This has meant that communities are unable to
graze their herds on these lands. UCRT has worked with effected
communities to develop alternative strategies that allow for healthy
livestock feeding and protection of the wildebeest populations.
Securing land and resource rights for local communities has
produced biodiversity benefits in the form of more effective land
management and providing the kind of certainty which makes
for long-term land investments. One notable case of a community
reclaiming its territory was in Hanang. In the 1970s, the stateowned
corporation NAFCO appropriated 100,000 acres of land from
pastoralists in Hanang to grow wheat, leaving thousands of families
landless. After mismanagement of the farms and failure of the wheat
project, the government decided to grant some of the land back to
the Hanang pastoralists. The process was subverted, however, by
local politicians who proposed awarding the land to Mount Hanang
cultivators instead. With the support of Oxfam Ireland, UCRT was
able to put pressure on the government to return the land to the
pastoralists. Eventually, 28,000 acres of land were returned to the
Ming’enyi, Mogitu, Mulbadaw, Gidika, Basotu and Gawidu villages,
benefiting more than 8,000 families.
Another example of UCRT advocacy for the return of community land
comes from Emboreet, where pastoralists living along the eastern
edge of Tarangire National Park were similarly dispossessed of 29,000
hectares of land by the government. In this instance, the lands were
appropriated for a large-scale, commercial bean cultivation project.
When the project failed, the government assumed rights to the land
rather than returning them to the pastoralists. In response, UCRT
partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society to appeal for the
return of the land to its rightful occupants. After a lengthy negotiation,
all 29,000 hectares of land were returned to the community.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
One of the main socioeconomic impacts of UCRT work has been the
fostering of private sector partnerships that have enabled villages
to earn income from wildlife conservation by way of communitybased
ecotourism ventures. In Ngorongoro district alone, seven
Maasai villages have used ecotourism to increase their incomes from
approximately USD 30,000 in 1998 to over USD 300,000 in 2007.
Participating villages also created cultural bomas, where women
produce artisanal goods which are sold to tourists. UCRT conducted
training in each village on community-based natural resource
management and the development of land-use plans.
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Rather than have ecotourism exist in isolation from other economic
and social activities, UCRT emphasised balancing ecotourism
priorities with other environmental and economic considerations.
Participating villages were provided with access to legal aid during
negotiations with prospective tourism operators, ensuring that
contracts were not asymmetrically weighted towards the interests
of private sector partners. For example, in the village of Engaresero,
UCRT assisted in drawing up a participatory and transparent contract
between the community and the tour operator which, among other
things, recognized the community’s rights to their natural resources.
The ecotourism enterprise generated employment for nine villagers,
while annual income in 2009 alone cleared USD 30,000. Revenues
have subsequently been invested into school infrastructure, school
fees, a rotating loan scheme for women and youth, health service
provision, and the construction of a health centre.
UCRT works through the Olalaa Pastoralist Development Initiatives,
Simanjiro Women Income Generating Group, and Hanang women
groups to empower and support alternative livelihoods projects
for local women. To date, more than 20 women’s cooperatives
have been formed. Each of the groups is engaged in subsistence
farming on small, two-acre plots of land. Each has been provided
with an ox-plough, which has eased the manual labor burden and
improved farm productivity. Local women’s cooperatives have also
been provided with goats (more than 600 to date), allowing them
diversify their livelihoods with livestock rearing. UCRT has also
used these groups to promote genetic diversity and agricultural
diversification, distributing over 300 kilograms of bean seeds and
over 100 kilograms of maize seeds.
Women’s empowerment programs are operated in conjunction
with the Pastoral Women’s Council of Tanzania: an NGO working
with pastoralist groups in northern Tanzania to advance women’s
rights and the education of Masaai girls. Since its inception, UCRT
has recognized the empowerment of women as an essential
dimension of its work to secure community-based property rights
and land tenure. They recognized that a fractured community –
whether along ethnic, economic or gender lines – cannot advocate
as successfully for collective rights as one in which the rights of all
members of the community are given equal consideration. As such,
UCRT mobilized women to become active and visible in the design
and implementation of community projects. In partnership with
a number of different advocacy groups and non-governmental
organizations, UCRT provides trainings to women in land rights
issues, economic independence and livelihoods diversification
(including beadwork, soap-making and ecotourism). Local women
have not only become participants in land rights advocacy, but
active leaders and champions of community-based property rights.
The organization has been equally active in promoting literacy and
opening up access to schools and education for geographically,
economically and socially marginalized youth. UCRT has a program
in place which covers secondary school fees for children from poor
backgrounds who have passed their primary school exams, but who
are unable to attend classes because of inadequate finances. At the
time this report was written, more than 150 students were being
supported to attend school through this program. Scholarships
have also been extended to both pastoralist families and the remote
hunter-gatherer communities of Hadzabe and Akie to cover tuition,
clothing and transportation expenses. In a related initiative, UCRT
funded construction of a local orphanage and currently supports
33 orphans to attend secondary school. An important stipulation
of UCRT support for scholarships and school fees is that students
that graduate are required to return to the village for a minimum of
three years and act as a peer educator. Students receiving support
through UCRT are brought together at an annual forum, where they
share experiences and plans for future collaboration.
UCRT has also mainstreamed HIV/AIDS education and awarenessraising
into its programs, with a particular outreach focus on remote
and marginalized villages. The organization has leveraged its peer
educators to disseminate knowledge of the disease and how it
is transmitted among ethnic minorities such as the Maasai and
Barabaig tribes.
178

POLICY IMPACTS
UCRT is one of the only organizations in Tanzania to effectively bridge
the gap between national government land policies and communitybased
property rights regimes. In 2008, UCRT mobilized a critical
mass of community representatives to travel to Dodoma in an effort
to convince Tanzanian parliament to reject a proposed Wildlife Bill.
Had it not been voted down, the bill would have forced pastoralist
communities out of ‘Game Controlled Areas’, which were unilaterally
zoned without community consultation as strict conservation
areas, thereby stripping these communities of their traditional
livelihoods. Most recently, the organization helped to ensure that
community voices were included in hearings on the Wildlife Act
(2009) and the Rangeland Act (2010). The organization serves an
essential communication and advocacy function, linking pastoralist
communities into dialogue with government representatives and
other key stakeholders.
Navigating government bureaucracy and local politics is a
programmatic constant for UCRT. Even when land use plans and
tenure arrangements has been agreed upon within and between
communities, there are often significant delays at the local level of
government where the approval process for village by-laws takes
place. Addressing the barriers faced to getting by-laws approved
can be both time-consuming and costly. As one example, district
officials require payment to participate in by-law approval meetings;
officials often charge by the USD 32 per day for a process that can
run as long as three to four weeks. At one stage of the approval
process, nine district officials are required.
In July of 2009, the national government supported a foreign
commercial hunting company to forcibly evict eight Maasai villages
from land adjacent to Serengeti National Park – village infrastructure
and Maasai cultural bomas where burned to the ground. This was the
latest incident in a long history of dispute over an area of land that
has been sustainably managed by Maasai peoples for generations.
The eviction affected more than 10,000 pastoralists and displaced
more than 50,000 heads of their cattle, many of which died in the
following months due to insufficient grazing areas and scarce access
to water. Although the people remain dispossessed, UCRT has been
able to involve local, national and international media and rights
groups in documenting the plight of these communities. Knowledge
of the eviction within Tanzania has increased and pressure has been
put on the government to launch an official inquiry into the incident.
179

Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
UCRT is financially dependent on donor support. The organization
has been able to sustain its work through a number of different
partnership programs, ranging from one-off to continuous funding.
For example, Dorobo Fund and Oxfam Ireland are annual donors,
while UCRT received a GEF-Small Grants Programme grant of USD
27,000 for 2009-2010. And while individual communities are engaged
in eco-tourism ventures, UCRT itself does not operate profit-making
enterprises. The organization is currently seeking a long-term donor
to support its work and ensure the long-term financial viability of its
activities.
Organisational sustainability is ensured by employing staff members
from within the communities where UCRT works. The majority of
staff remains connected with grassroots initiatives, and many divide
their time between on-site activities and the UCRT office in Arusha.
‘Field facilitators’ are permanently based in participating villages to
allow for easy communication between the field and headquarters.
Staff are also supported to pursue degree and certificate programs,
for instance at the Arusha-based Training Centre for Development
Cooperation or at Kenyatta University, Nairobi.
REPLICATION
UCRT has been a model of peer-to-peer learning and successful
replication. The organization has been able to secure land and
resource tenure for more than 40 village communities. Not only
have these villages benefited from improved tenure security, but
communities have also been supported to improve and diversify
their livelihoods. The key to UCRT’s success has been a combination
of holistic land use plans and leveraging village by-laws. The
organization’s model of empowering communities to advocate for
security of tenure has been transferred on a demand-driven basis;
several communities have approached UCRT to request support in
applying the model of land use and resource management planning
in their village.
Peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges have been critical for UCRT in
effectively mobilizing support for policy change and land reform;
so too, partnerships with groups such as the Pastoralist Indigenous
Non-Governmental Organisations’ Forum and Pastoral Women’s
Council have created a support structure and board-based coalition
on which effective lobbying efforts have been built. It is through
partnerships that the responsibilities and risks associated with
advocacy are shared.
PARTNERS
• African Initiatives (a UK-based NGO) was initially an important
donor, but phased out their support in 2007
• OXFAM Ireland makes annual financial contributions
• Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) makes annual financial
contributions
• UNDP-implemented GEF-Small Grants Programme provided a
grant for 2009-2010 (USD 27,000)
• Wildlife Conservation Society makes an annual financial
contribution
• Cordaid (Netherlands-based NGO) makes an annual financial
contribution
• Pastoralist Indigenous Non-Governmental Organisations’ Forum
(PINGOs’ Forum) advocates at the national level for indigenous
rights
180

VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT
COMMITTEE OF ANDO
KPOMEY
Togo
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l French
After a devastating bush fire in 1973, the village of Ando Kpomey created a “green belt”
buffer around its community that has grown into a 100-hectare forest. A participatory
management committee has been established to monitor the forest and its resources
and to regulate its use. The community authorizes limited resource extraction to meet
livelihood needs and manages revenues generated from the sale of forest-based
products. Local women are authorized entry to the community forest to access firewood,
significantly reducing the average time needed to forage for cooking fuel. Various crops
are grown in the forest, including a range of medicinal plants which have served to meet
local healthcare needs.
Neighbouring communities have been enlisted to protect the forest, and have benefited
from knowledge sharing on natural resource management, participatory planning and
forest conservation. The village hosts peer-to-peer learning exchanges to share lessons
learned, and has done so with communities and organization across Togo and Burkina
Faso.

Background and Context
Persistent threats to forest cover and biodiversity
The total forested area in Togo is around 287,000 hectares. That
number, however, is rapidly shrinking. The annual deforestation
rate is 5.75 per cent and rising. Decades of socio-political crises
and poor resource governance have resulted in severe degradation
of protected areas. Between 2005 and 2010 alone, Togo lost an
average of 20,000 ha of forest cover each year. The combination of
deforestation, bush fires, and hunting has resulted in the widespread
loss of forests and the biodiversity they support. Deforestation has
led to land degradation, which has in turn left towns and villages
vulnerable to flooding, bush fires and other extreme weather events.
A ‘green belt’ to buffer against bush fires
The genesis of a community forest
The initial creation of the green belt was based solely on local
initiative and voluntary efforts. Family heads and community elders
agreed on the proposal and devised a plan for how to move forward.
As the rainy season drew to a close, community members came
together to clear a ‘fire break’, a 14-meter strip of bush around the
town. Beyond the fire break, they planted a 10-meter strip of trees.
Every year since, the community has planted an additional 10-meter
strip to expand the green belt. Little by little, the green belt has
grown to become a community forest, which now surrounds the
town to a depth of between 350 and 850 meters and is a great source
of pride for Ando Kpomey’s residents. For 18 years after the project
began, the community maintained and expanded the forest with no
Ando Kpomey is a small town in the Maritime Region of southwestern
Togo, located 70 kilometers northwest of the capital, Lomé.
The community – which has a modest population of 1,000 residents
– was formerly surrounded by dry shrub savannah; bush fires would
often break out, devastating housing, local infrastructure, crops and
food stores. On two occasions, the entire town was burned to the
ground.
When one particularly devastating fire occurred in 1973, a group of
town elders proposed a solution: establish a ‘green belt’ of forested
area around the perimeter of the community that would effectively
buffer against bush fires. It was proposed that, in addition to
protecting the town from bush fires – and, by extension, mitigating
all of the social, economic and environmental costs associated with
recovery – a green belt would allow the community to diversify the
crops under cultivation and would harbour biodiversity. The proposal
was accepted and since 1973 Ando Kpomey has maintained and
expanded a community forest that surrounds the village and now
covers an area of more than 100 hectares.
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outside help. In 1991, the community initiative came to the attention
of the Togolese NGO Association Togolaise pour la Promotion
Humaine (ATPH), which, in 1992, began providing support. Several
years later in 2000, the community forest came to the attention of
another NGO, Inades-Formation Togo, which also began providing
support and technical guidance shortly thereafter. With the support
of both partners, Ando Kpomey developed formal regulations for
management of the community forest in 2003.
Management, participation and financing
While management of the forest is entirely community-based,
Association Togolaise pour la Promotion Humaine provides occasional
technical support and helped to establish management and
watchdog committees in the hopes of ensuring accountability,
transparency and good governance. The management approach
taken is largely participatory in nature, and the regulations that have
been put in place concerning the use of and access to the forest are
widely respected by local residents. The community forest in Ando
Kpomey is nothing short of a regional anomaly. The majority of
surrounding towns have entirely cleared their forests. As such, Ando
Kpomey has reached out to neighbouring villages in an effort to
engage a larger population in the protection of its forest and local
biodiversity. The community forest has become an attraction for
visitors to the region and from adjacent municipalities. A visitor tax
is collected for entry to the forest, which has provided a valuable
source of revenue to finance local infrastructure needs and ongoing
conservation and tree-planting efforts. The management committee
provides the wider community with regular updates and reports on
how this revenue is being spent.
183

Key Activities and Innovations
The primary activity of the Village Development Committee of Ando
Kpomey has been the establishment and ongoing maintenance of its
community forest. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers every year, the
forest now covers an area of more than 100 ha. Rather than focusing on
continued expansion, however, the organization is now concentrating
its efforts on forest maintenance and monitoring to ensure that existing
tree cover stays intact and is not deforested or degraded.
To feed community tree-planting and reforestation efforts, village
nurseries were established in which tree saplings were cultivated
and nurtured to maturity before being planted in the annual forest
expansion. With the support of its partner organizations, the Village
Development Committee of Ando Kpomey has developed a simple
management plan. The plan was drawn up in open consultations
with community members. Both the Department of Environment
and Forest Resources and the UNDP-implemented GEF Small
Grants Programme (SGP) have provided the village with resources
and support to help establish formal rules for community forest
management. Support with this resource governance framework has
been complemented by training in sustainable forest management
techniques.
Committee of Ando Kpomey has also made efforts to involve
neighbouring communities in the protection of the forest. Residents
of adjacent communities are invited to participate in traditional
hunts and sustainable resource extraction events, with the intention
of demonstrating the value of the forest, the ecosystem goods and
services it provides, and to discourage people from degrading or
setting fire to the forest.
In recent years, the Village Development Committee of Ando
Kpomey has expanded into alternative livelihood activities that aim
to both raise local incomes and reduce pressure on forest resources.
The project – again funded by the UNDP-implemented GEF Small
Grants Programme – has trained 25 women in snail farming and 17
men in apiculture and the marketing of honey. Project beneficiaries
were provided with hives, brood snails, construction material for
snaileries, and honey harvesting and storage equipment.
The management committee is composed entirely of elected
community members. It holds responsibility for ensuring that
community forest regulations are complied with, and for regulating
and authorizing the felling of trees and other forms of resource
extraction within the forest. When a member of the community
needs timber for a construction project, they must submit a request
to the management committee which authorizes the type and
quality of wood that should be used as well as the location in the
forest where the tree(s) can be harvested. Through this process, the
forest is able to meet the needs of the community without risking
overharvesting. Women are also permitted entry to the forest
to collect fallen branches for firewood. The rules governing the
forest are strictly enforced. Because pressures on forest resources
are not limited to inside the community, the Village Development
184

Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
Bush fires and deforestation have resulted in the clearance of tree
cover from the vast majority of neighbouring towns. The community
of Ando Kpomey, however, has created a community forest that is
locally managed and conserved in a participatory manner. Resource
extraction from the 100-hectare forest is regulated by a local
management committee, thereby regulating and limiting the extent
of forest degradation. A forest surveillance committee has also been
established and operates year-round, though it is activated more
regularly during the dry season. These efforts have had positive
spill-over effects for the environmental health and biodiversity of
the area.
Increased forest cover has improved biological diversity around
the village. Many of the trees and vegetation that now thrive in
the community forest are endangered or threatened in the larger
region. The forest is also home to various species of vines, medicinal
plants, edible mushrooms, and wildlife, including many species of
birds, rodents and deer. The livelihoods projects that are now being
advanced by the Village Development Committee of Ando Kpomey
provide the local population with income-generating alternatives to
unsustainable extraction of forest resources and illegal logging.
Importantly, and in addition to its biodiversity benefits, the
community forest contributes to healthy ecosystem functioning
and, by extension, the provision of ecosystem goods and services.
Among the more important services that have been restored
through the planting and expansion of the community forest has
been the regulation of water cycles. Other towns that have cleared
their forests suffer from irregular rainfall and constant flooding, as
the lack of tree roots compromises soil integrity and subsequent
land degradation. Anecdotal reports from villagers claim that the
community forest has also improved air quality in and around
the village, and that the trees planted around Ando Kpomey have
created a microclimate that produces regular rainfall, which has
benefits for local freshwater access and agriculture.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The primary socioeconomic impact from the Village Development
Committee of Ando Kpomey initiative has been fulfilment of the
original motivating objective: protecting the village from bush fires.
By creating a ‘fire break’ and green belt around the perimeter of the
village, the community has effectively made bush fires a thing of
the past. No bush fires have occurred in the town since 1973, the
year the initiative began. Previously, these incidences would cause
a great deal of damage to local homes and village infrastructure,
which had detrimental effects on the local economy and required
large investments of time and resources to rebuild.
Regulating and provisioning services
The role of the community forest in creating a local micro-climate,
and therefore potentially increased rainfall, has benefited local
agricultural production and, by extension, local food security.
Water for irrigation is a precious commodity in the region, which
is characterized by arid land and water shortages. These climatic
and geographic realities have been exacerbated by deforestation,
land degradation and climate change. In the early 1970s, when the
decision was made to establish the green belt, there was sufficient
tree cover in the surrounding region to maintain regular rainy
seasons and sufficient rainfall. Since then, however, due to almost
complete deforestation, rainfall is now rare in the surrounding area.
Ando Kpomey has been somewhat protected from this, owing in
large part to the community forest. Although harvesting wood from
the forest is restricted and tightly regulated, community members
no longer have a difficult time obtaining wood for construction
projects and infrastructure needs. Another socioeconomic benefit
of the community forest has been improvements in both the
diversity and abundance of the natural resources that are available
for community use. The forest contains edible mushrooms, animals
that are sustainably hunted (during organised and regulated
traditional hunts), and medicinal plants that help to meet some
basic community healthcare needs.
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Associated benefits of the community forest
One perhaps unanticipated benefit of the community forest has
been in respect to land tenure securitization. The forest which now
encircles the village is actively monitored and maintained in a way
that the surrounding bush and scrubland never was previously. The
tree line created by the forest boundaries provides a clear marker
and delineation of Ando Kpomey land. This has been beneficial in
strengthening community identity as it relates to the stewardship
and ownership of communal land, as a way of grounding the village’s
collective spatial sense of territory, and protecting the village from
“land grabs”, which are not uncommon in the region.
The Village Development Committee of Ando Kpomey collects
entrance fees from visitors to the community forest. This revenue
stream has been effectively directed towards village development
projects. The majority of the funds have been used to construct and
then operate a local school. The school has been recognized by the
Togolese government and was allocated teachers, beginning in the
2010-2011 school year.
Notably, the community forest has given the women of Ando
Kpomey a stronger voice in community life through representation
in all decision-making processes and in the management of the
forest. The participatory management approach employed by Ando
Kpomey gives men and women equal roles and equal representation
in forest governance. Community members have reported that
women are increasingly inclined to voice their opinions at town
meetings, especially during exchange visits when other communities
come to visit the forest. Women also benefit from being given access
to the forest to gather firewood, reducing the distance they would
otherwise have been forced to travel to collect fuel for household
consumption.
POLICY IMPACTS
The success of the community forest stems in large part from the
choice to prioritize community leadership in resource governance
planning and forest management. This success has not gone
unnoticed. The Togolese Government has been influenced by the
community-based stewardship and management model and,
importantly, revised legislation text on forest management to be
less top-heavy and more amenable to participatory, communitybased
action. As one example, the Ministry of the Environment
and Forest Resources adopted a more participatory approach to
forest management that directly involves and integrates local town
associations in the management of protected areas. The Ando
Kpomey community forest provided proof of what local communities
can achieve when empowered, and can be credited with influencing
this change in policy. The Ando Kpomey community has opened up
the community forest to workshops and events that engage local
and national policymakers, giving them a first-hand experience of
the community approach.
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Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
While the project benefits from partner support – and receives some
international funding – it is worth noting that establishment of the
community forest was initiated by the community of Ando Kpomey
itself. The community maintained and expended the forest without
any external support or funding for 18 years, from 1973 to 1991. The
longevity of the project is testament to the determination and will of
the community to confront the social, environmental and economic
challenges associated with bush fires, land degradation and water
shortages.
The Ando Kpomey community forest remains very much a locally
driven project. All segments of the local populations – men, women
and youth – are represented in each of the committees that oversee
the forest. The forest is managed in such a way that all community
members feel involved and have a stake in its stewardship. The
forest remains communally owned and management rules are well
respected. The community members recognize the benefits the
forest brings and are happy to continue to invest their time and
energy in maintaining it. Every year, towards the end of the rainy
season, residents clear the fire break and carry out any necessary
planting to maintain the quality of the forest. Throughout the year,
but especially during the dry season, community members monitor
the forest to prevent forest fires and deforestation. All of this work
is carried out voluntarily – the involvement of the entire village has
helped to strengthen the solidarity and cohesion of the community.
The community collects a tax from all visitors to the forest, which
constitutes a source of revenue for local development projects.
The majority of the money collected to date has been directed
towards the construction of a local school. A grant from the UNDPimplemented
Small Grants Programme (SGP) funds alternative
livelihoods projects, which have subsequently reduced pressure on
the forest. Additional funding for reforestation efforts is collected
from local businesses: any business which extracts resources from
the forest must pay a contribution to the Village Development
Committee, which then goes towards maintenance of the forest and
other village development activities.
REPLICATION
The community forest has served as a best practice model in
the region and has a high level of potential for replication. The
overwhelming majority of villages in the region have cleared their
forests, and now suffer water shortages, irregular rainfall and land
degradation as a result. The Ando Kpomey forest has to a large degree
helped the village address these issues, although certain problems
are endemic to the region and persist. Ando Kpomey has taken
steps to ensure that other villages respect the rules and regulations
of the community forest and undertaken outreach to demonstrate
the benefits that come from reforestation and environmental
stewardship. Residents of neighbouring communities have been
invited to tradition hunts in the Ando Kpomey forest as a way of
sharing benefits across villages, for instance.
The Ando Kpomey forest management model has been promoted
through educational visits, peer-to-peer learning and knowledge
exchanges, and awareness-raising workshops. Visitors have included
a range of farming organizations from the area, neighbouring
prefectures, and researchers from the University of Lomé, government
agencies, and NGOs. These exchanges have paid dividends, as
the community forest project model has been replicated in the
communities of Nyaméssiva, Kpenyuie, Zikpé, Setekpé Klégbékopé
and Akpuive to date.
The community has also employed awareness-raising workshops
and mass media to disseminate information about the forest. In
2011, representatives from Ando Kpomey held a workshop on
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forest management in the neighbouring village of Akpuive. Over
500 people attended, including members of seven neighbouring
villages, while the event was promoted on local radio stations. Inades-
Formation Togo, an important partner to the village committee’s
work, published a booklet in 2006 titled “Creating and managing a
community forest: the Ando Kpomey project”.
PARTNERS
Association Togolaise pour la Promotion Humaine (ATPH) was the
first NGO to become involved in the project. Since 1991, ATPH has
provided technical assistance to help the community establish
a watchdog committee and a management committee: the
introduction of these bodies has helped to ensure transparency and
accountability in the management of local funds.
Inades (Institut Africain pour le Développement Economique et Social)
- Formation Togo has worked with the Ando Kpomey community
since 2000, advising on the development of forest management
methods, and promoting the community forest as a model that
could be replicated elsewhere. This NGO also published a booklet
highlighting the Ando Kpomey model for use in replication.
In 2009, Ando Kpomey successfully submitted a project to the UNDPimplemented
GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) for funding.
This project involved the development of alternative livelihood
activities in the village and capacity development for the Village
Development Committee to improve management of the forest. To
date, community members have been trained in snail farming and
bee keeping, and a simple management plan for the community
forest has been drafted with GEF-SGP support.
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ZENAB FOR WOMEN IN
DEVELOPMENT
Sudan
PROJECT SUMMARY
English l Arabic
Zenab for Women in Development mobilize and empower women, through the
organization of local cooperatives into a larger union of women farmers. Established
in 2005, the union has grown from 300 women in six communities to 3,000 women in
53 communities across the state of Gedaref, Sudan. The union provides a platform for
women farmers to improve agricultural productivity and exchange good environmental
practices. Training is provided in organic agriculture, crop rotation and the use of
biological fertilizers. The organization has raised awareness of deforestation, distributed
cooking gas to reduce the felling of trees for firewood, and engaged union members in
reforestation and tree planting activities.
In addition to strengthening the land tenure status of women, the initiative offers
extensive health education programmes which raise awareness about maternal health,
family planning, HIV and AIDS prevention, and female genital mutilation. Union revenues
are invested in rural primary schools, sanitation services, and fresh water access projects.

Background and Context
Gedaref, Sudan
Gedaref State, together with Kassala and Red Sea State, comprise the
region of East Sudan. The state – bordered by Kassala and Khartoum
State to the North, El Gezira State to the West and Sennar State to the
South – has a population of approximately 1.35 million people, with
an annual growth rate of 3.87 per cent. Though more than two thirds
of the state’s population live in rural areas, it is well connected to
regional centres of Sudan and to some Ethiopian cities via a network
of highways. A number of Sudanese tribal groups are represented
in Gedaref’s population, among them Shaighiyas, Beggaras, Dinkas,
Furs, Nubas and Massalits. The state is also home to a large number
of foreign diasporas including Kurds, Armenians, Indians, Greeks,
Egyptians, Copts, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalis, Nigerians and
Chadians. The concentration of so many ethnicities and nationalities
in Gedaref can be attributed to an agricultural boom that swept
the state, transforming it into a major centre of trade and attracting
people from neighbouring states and countries. In the 1980s and
1990s, war and famine in Ethiopia and Eritrea flooded Gedaref with
large numbers of refugees, many of whom still live in refugee camps.
Environmental decline, poverty and conflict
Agriculture is the main economic activity in Gedaref, with around
80 per cent of the state’s population engaging in agriculture as
some part of their livelihoods. The agriculture industry, however,
faces a number of challenges. Unsustainable harvesting techniques
and agricultural practices have degraded ecosystem functions
to the point that soil and water quality are, in many places, no
longer sufficient to support or sustain agriculture. Overgrazing and
overharvesting have resulted in the loss of vegetation which has in
turn led to land degradation, transforming much of the potentially
fertile land into desert. Slash-and-burn agriculture has become so
widespread that it has consumed and destroyed more than two
thirds of Sudan’s forests. Soil erosion near major rivers has increased
flooding, contaminating drinking water and spreading water-borne
diseases like cholera, which takes a heavy toll on a population
already weakened by malnutrition. So too, many farmers have
become over-reliant on single crops, which has negatively affected
farm productivity, particularly in light of increased climate variability
and the crop loss that comes with pest and parasite infestations.
Environmental challenges are further exacerbated by poverty and
a lack of agricultural extension services to train farmers in modern
agricultural techniques and better land management practices.
Many smallholder farmers lack access to improved seeds and cannot
afford the labour necessary for ploughing, seeding and weeding.
Financial impediments disproportionately affect women farmers,
who often require hired labour to undertake heavy manual work.
As a result, soil fertility is deteriorating, farm productivity is low, and
rain water is not adequately managed. Environmental degradation
has also served to exacerbate long-standing political and resource
conflicts within Sudan. A civil war lasting over 50 years between
Sudan’s northern and southern regions ended in the signing of a
peace agreement in 2005 and the secession of South Sudan in 2011,
while conflict continues in Darfur, western Sudan. These conflicts
have displaced millions of families, creating tensions over land and
further stretching already-depleted natural resources.
Women in rural Sudan
Women make a sizable contribution to Sudan’s agricultural sector,
and most Sudanese families depend on women’s farming for their
food and income. Gedaref is no different – the state provides a large
portion of Sudan’s sorghum, millet, groundnuts and vegetables
through an agricultural economy driven to a large extent by the
contributions of women farmers whose role is severely undervalued.
While women farmers in rural areas play an active role in sustaining
the region’s agricultural economy, they are routinely neglected
by policy makers and excluded from accessing the services and
resources they need to manage their land effectively.
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Critically, women have a difficult time securing land tenure and
property rights, a significant challenge given the composition of
the agricultural workforce. Women constitute more than 80 per
cent of the labour force in the traditional (non-irrigated) agricultural
sector yet hold only one per cent of registered land titles. Only five
to six per cent of land titles are held jointly by men and women. As
a consequence, the majority of women farmers are unable to use
their farms as collateral and, therefore, are unable to access credit.
Without access to finance, women cannot purchase the farm inputs
necessary to manage their farms – never mind make balanced and
informed choices that prioritize sustainable practices – or pay for
hired labour to assist in land preparation and harvesting.
In Gedaref, it is common for men to migrate to cities in search of
employment, leaving women to provide for their families and
manage their land. Women, in fact, have few economic opportunities
outside of agriculture; it is the occupation of 97 per cent of women in
the state. For lack of mechanized equipment, women tend to weed,
sow and harvest by hand, while fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides
are generally unaffordable for them. Despite these barriers, women
farmers manage the majority of food crops, as well as retaining
responsibility for collecting fresh water and fuel wood.
Zenab for Women in Development
The central role of women in both economic development and food
security is undervalued in Gedaref, as it is across much of Sudan.
Agricultural extension services provided by the government are also
anaemic, leaving women with few options for agricultural training,
technical services or access to credit and savings programmes.
Zenab for Women in Development was founded in 2000 to improve
the status of women in Sudan, with the stated objectives of
improving the livelihoods of women, enabling women to advocate
for their rights, and contributing to sustainable development in rural
areas and those regions affected by complex conflicts and natural
disasters. The initiative began as the work of a local academic, and
was named in honour of her mother, Zenab M. Nour, a pioneering
native of Gedaref who was the first woman from the state to receive
a formal education. Carrying on the efforts of Zenab, the initiative’s
work was initially supported by a number of small project grants
from organisations such as the African Women’s Development Fund,
UNIFEM (now UN Women), the international women’s rights NGO
MADRE, and the Irmas Foundation, as well as private donations from
within Sudan and the international Sudanese diaspora.
From its outset, the initiative has taken a multidimensional
approach to empowering women, identifying appropriate funding
opportunities and entry points for interventions across the human
development scale. In practice, this has meant a broad portfolio
of programme areas, incorporating: projects to improve women’s
literacy; infrastructure investments in rural primary schools;
improving livelihood opportunities and food security for women in
marginalised areas; enhancing access to rural health services with
a focus on women (including combating harmful social practices
such as FGM and violence against women, awareness-raising on
HIV/AIDS, and providing information on reproductive health);
providing legal aid services and logistic support for vulnerable
communities, including the promotion of women’s rights; civic
education encouraging women’s participation in political processes,
as community leaders, and in conflict-resolution; and programmes
that aim to foster values of peace and democracy.
Since 2000, Zenab’s work across these programme areas has spanned
a diverse range of partnerships, target beneficiaries, and geographic
focuses: although the organization began its work in Gedaref, it has
expanded to work in other parts of Sudan, including Darfur. As an
indication of its broad range of impacts across the development
spectrum, Table 1 provides an overview of the ways in which the
initiative’s past programs have advanced progress towards the
Millennium Development Goals.
Women Farmers Unite
Since 2005, Zenab’s flagship programme has been its women farmers’
union, the first of its kind in Sudan. This initiative – ‘Women Farmers
Unite’ – has been supported by MADRE, a US-based international
women’s movement that partners with grassroots initiatives around
the world in support of women’s empowerment. Zenab began by
conducting a needs assessment survey of 20 rural communities in
Gedaref to get a sense of the predominant challenges facing women
farmers and village primary schools. This survey highlighted the
interconnected challenges of climate variability, droughts, postconflict
recovery, and the disempowerment of women that were
acting to restrict the livelihoods and wellbeing of women farmers.
Based on the findings of this survey, the organization designed an
intervention with the aim of increasing and diversifying the incomes
of women farmers. Participants were supplied with seeds and
farming equipment, including ploughs and, in some cases, a tractor.
Along with agricultural extension services on issues such as crop
rotation and adapting to the effects of climate change, women have
been provided with human rights trainings, medical supplies, and
education targeted at improving literacy and computer skills. This
holistic package of support and training has empowered women
to organize in women farmer groups, which are each members
within the women farmers’ union. Testament to both the success
of the programme and the demand for the services and platform it
provides, the union grew from 10 groups in a single network across
two municipalities in 2008 to a remarkable 585 groups in 58 networks
across 12 municipalities in 2012, serving around 3,000 women.
Organizational and governance structure
Participatory and democratic principles are central to this work.
Each women farmer group elects a member to be represented in the
strategic discussions of the union’s assembly. Women undertaking
work on the ground are directly involved in the planning and
implementation of programmes, creating a feedback loop to ensure
that projects are demand-driven and responsive to local needs.
Rather than passive recipients of development support, women have
become drivers of positive change in their communities, leading to a
sense of empowerment and collective accomplishment.
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Zenab currently oversees the work of the women farmers’ union,
along with the other projects in its portfolio, from two main offices
located in the cities of Khartoum and Gedaref. Its staff members
include nine paid workers, including an administrative and finance
manager, executive secretary, accountant, and consultants on the
agricultural programme and human rights issues. The remaining
ten members – including the founder and president, as well as
the coordinators of the initiative’s health and women’s economic
empowerment programmes – are volunteers. Ten staff positions,
including most of the senior roles, are held by women.
Table 1: Zenab activities to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Goal
Activities
MDG 1:
Eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger
MDG 2:
Achieve universal primary
education
••
Worked in refugee camps and across Gedaref to distribute seed varieties and hand tools for
improved agriculture
••
Benefited at least 1,500 women farmers via a women farmers’ union through the provision of
micro-credit and training on nutrition
••
Supports ten pupils each year (seven girls, three boys) from poor families to attend primary school
by paying registration fees; advocated for the waiving of school fees
••
Renovated ten classrooms in rural schools, distributing school materials for 500 students and free
school meals to 200 poor students
••
Improved sanitation and water access in primary schools; installed gates and made infrastructure
improvements to improve accessibility for disabled children
MDG 3:
Promote gender equality
and empower women
••
Conducted education programmes and symposiums on gender issues in different villages,
bringing together community and religious leaders;
••
Led training workshops and capacity building for more than 300 women leaders, and encouraged
political participation via workshops (reaching a total of 250 women)
••
Led campaigns to raise awareness of violence against women
••
Conducted adult education programmes for women, and empowered women farmers through
the women farmers’ union
MDGs 4 & 5:
Reduce child mortality and
improve maternal health
••
Initiated programmes to combat the maternal mortality rate in Southern Sudan, one of the
highest in the world
••
Organized 30 workshops throughout Gedaref to raise awareness on the issue of FGM, targeting
midwives in particular
••
Held “medical weeks’ in Gedaref city and in displaced peoples’ camps, with more than 500 children
and 200 pregnant women examined
••
Distributed free medicine
MDG 6:
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria,
and other diseases
••
Organized symposiums to mark World AIDS Day
••
Supported the Sudan National AIDS Programme and the Ministry of Health’s Education
Department to give 3-day training courses on HIV prevention for 100 women from across Gedaref
••
Ran poster and brochure campaigns in schools and refugee camps to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS
••
Targeted specific training for hospital cleaners and midwives to help them avoid HIV/AIDS or
hepatitis transmission
MDG 7:
Ensure environmental
sustainability
••
Installed drinking water systems and sanitation improvements in schools in rural areas
••
Integrated tree-planting and environmental education in programmes in dryland areas to combat
desertification
MDG 8:
Develop a global partnership
for development
••
Organized events on international days for AIDS, women, and poverty eradication to raise local
awareness of these issues
••
Established networks of NGOs in both Gedaref and Khartoum, and participated in networks active
on a range of issues
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Key Activities and Innovations
Zenab for Women in Development focuses its activities on four key
programme areas: agriculture, education and reproductive health
(including child health, female genital mutilation, and HIV/AIDS),
and peace-building. The common thread unifying the organization’s
work is promotion of women’s rights and activities that will empower
women to raise their status in Sudanese society.
Empowering women in agriculture
The women farmers’ union is the chief means through which Zenab
for Women in Development achieves its aim of empowering women
farmers to improve and diversify their agricultural income. Activities
and interventions focus on improving the productivity of land and
crops, overseeing agricultural cooperatives, providing agricultural
training and capacity building, and facilitating access to finance.
When the initiative began in 2005, women farmers in the villages
of Wad Daief, Wad Assayed, Wad Assanosi, Al Hamra, Abunnaga and
Ginan were the target population. The group has since expanded to
support over 3,000 women farmers in 12 municipalities of Gedaref.
The organization uses support groups to mobilize local women
farmers. Zenab for Women in Development oversees the management
and governance of support groups, networks and the union itself.
Each network is responsible for providing their members with
training, access to agricultural information and advocacy services.
Each women’s support group, meanwhile, maintains a bank account
containing funds which are used to finance agricultural projects
and other capacity building activities. Access to credit has been an
important aspect of the agriculture programme. Zenab for Women
in Development serves as a de facto guarantor for women farmers
who would otherwise not be able to access credit or provide needed
collateral. As a result, more than 60 per cent of women participating in
the programme have been able to access funds which are put towards
renting larger areas of arable land, planting cash crops (like sesame
and cotton), purchasing livestock, and diversifying their incomes in
other ways that increase their self-sufficiency.
The growing network of farmer groups is also leveraged to provide
network members with agricultural training in land productivity,
conservation farming, livestock rearing and more. The organizational
framework is a ‘train-the-trainers’ programme, through which more than
40 agricultural extension officers have been trained to provide outreach
and support in their respective communities. Extension officers provide
both technical and follow-up support, ensuring ongoing assistance and
responsiveness to local needs. Among the trainings provided are the
use of improved seed varieties (those adapted to short rainy seasons),
crop rotation, ploughing and organic composting.
The organization has also used its agricultural extension officers to
introduce new vegetables and crops like groundnut and sunflower
and to disseminate seeds, hand tools, fertilizers and weed killers. Gas
stoves have also been distributed to reduce reliance on firewood,
with training that emphasizes forest conservation, tree-planting and
responsible waste management. Workshops have been developed
to help women farmers adapt to climate change by providing
information on new weather patterns, instruction on how to adjust
soil preparation, planting and harvesting accordingly, and training
in how to harvest rainwater and dig shallow wells in villages.
Education and reproductive health
One of the obstacles to improving girls’ educational attainment in
rural areas was clear dissatisfaction with the infrastructure, upkeep
and quality of primary schools. Many schools had fallen into
disrepair and were perpetually underfunded and underequipped to
meet the educational needs of students. Zenab has responded by
implementing maintenance programmes which have constructed
additional classrooms and school houses, improved the quality of
toilets and sanitation services, and facilitated access to clean drinking
water. At present, the organization is overseeing the construction of
a primary school for girls in a rural Gedaref community, sponsored
by Zain, a leading regional mobile telecommunications operator.
It is hoped that these investments will increase the willingness of
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parents to send their daughters to school in a region where social
pressures already serve as a barrier.
The organization has also responded to local demand for support
services in reproductive health. Awareness-raising campaigns in
partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have
helped sensitize the local population to the dangers of HIV/AIDS.
The group has also campaigned aggressively against female genital
mutilation, also aiming to bring the issue to the attention of young
women. Other topics covered in educational campaigns include
violence against women, early marriage and family planning.
In one current project, Zenab is helping to provide training to 60
rural midwives in Gedaref, Kassala, and Red Sea States on standard
obstetric care to reduce mortality rates for mothers and children.
Education has also been extended through the provision of legal aid,
facilitating access to justice, and establishing a permanent legal aid
centre in Gedaref city in cooperation with UNDP, all of which aim to
better represent marginalized social groups in the Sudanese justice
system. Zenab has also partnered with the National Endowment for
Democracy to conduct workshops on basic human rights and laws
that hinder gender equality and injustice.
Peace-building, conflict resolution and disaster relief
Sudan is currently in an interim transitional period following the
2005 signing of a comprehensive peace agreement. As the country
rebuilds, Zenab for Women in Development provides local women
with civil education and training in how to take advantage of their
full rights and play an active part in democratic processes. Through
the farmer networks, the group provides in-depth training to women
councillors in order to help them represent their constituencies
effectively. To encourage women and young people to vote, Zenab
for Women in Development distributes pamphlets explaining the
role of citizens in the election process, and promotes voting and the
importance of women’s participation using local mass media. The
organization has also targeted human rights education to women in
prison, in particular about their right to legal aid.
Zenab for Women in Development has also established a women’s
leadership centre where workshops and forums are held on conflict
resolution and women’s empowerment. This has been a forum for
training women councillors on the Sudanese constitution, law and
political processes, leadership, financial management, and women’s
rights. Workshops held by the organization have provided a neutral
platform where women from different political parties can put aside
partisanship and focus on the creation and cultivation of networks
that will put women’s rights on the political agenda.
Two projects that reflect this focus include working with the UNDP
Sudan Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme
(SDDRP) on social re-integration for female ex-combatants, and a
recently-concluded project in South Darfur that trained 15 village
midwives and supported 200 women farmers by raising awareness
on HIV/AIDS and of new agricultural techniques, co-funded by
UNFPA, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), and the
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDA).
The organization has also been actively involved in the distribution
of food to communities in need and the provision of humanitarian
assistance to communities displaced by violence or natural disasters.
The Gash River floods every rainy season, driving many people from
their homes. The fighting and violence in Darfur have also led to
a substantial number of refugee camps and displaced people. In
some refugee camps – like that set up in Sherif – the organization
distributed educational materials, gave out toys and built functioning
latrines for local children. In both post-conflict and post-disaster
zones, the group has conducted peace-building training.
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Impacts
BIODIVERSITY IMPACTS
With a focus on women farmers, as well as a balance between
improved livelihoods and environmental sustainability, Zenab for
Women in Development has had wide-ranging positive impacts
on local biodiversity and ecosystem health. Agricultural training
activities coordinated by the women farmers’ union focus on
improving soil and water quality so that women farmers can improve
the productivity of their land, much of which has been degraded
through years of poor management and overuse. Population growth
in Sudan, and in this region in particular, has put a serious strain on
soil quality and water resources. Land and soil are under significant
pressure to produce enough food to keep pace with local demand.
Taking these development drivers into consideration, Zenab
encourages the planting of a diverse range of vegetables and crops,
with a particular emphasis on those that return nutrients to the soil.
The group also promotes crop rotation and the use of groundnut
as an organic fertilizer to ensure that the land does not become
depleted. Training is provided in soil preparation and maintenance,
and workshops have been given on environmental conservation and
the value of trees in maintaining soil quality and water functions.
Tree planting constitutes an important aspect of the organization’s
overall conservation practices and environmental stewardship.
Zenab for Women in Development works with women farmers to
maintain ‘green belts’, planting trees in areas where deforestation is
most clearly affecting soil and water quality. The growing network of
women farmers also plants trees near schools, in household gardens
and along main streets. In the village of Hamra, for example, a group
of women have established a tree nursery, which is being developed
to expand to the point where it will be capable of feeding treeplanting
efforts across the state.
The organization also actively distributes propane gas stoves and
trains local women in their use. The stoves are promoted as an
alternative to wood burning stoves, which are the most common
form of cooking stove amongst the local population, but which
require significant inputs of time and energy to locate fuel and
which have a negative impact on health when used indoors. The use
of propane gas stoves, by contrast, has reduced pressure on local
forests, which were being overharvested.
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
The socioeconomic impacts of Zenab for Women in Development’s
work are wide-ranging. Among the most successful outcomes
of their programmes, training and interventions have been local
improvements in food security, household incomes, school
infrastructure, and the access of girls and young women to formal
education. The network approach that underpins the women farmers’
union has helped to build social cohesion and empower an impressive
number of previously marginalized women to become active agents
in positively transforming the local economy and the development
trajectory of the traditional agricultural sector. The initiative is also
based on democratic principles of representation and participation,
which bode well for its prospects of long-term sustainability.
A large percentage of the women who have benefited from
engagement with Zenab for Women in Development – whether
through agricultural training, tree planting or livelihoods
diversification – are heads of their respective households. The
evolving trend in the region has been for men to travel to cities
and urban centres in search of work and improved vocational
opportunities, while the women are left behind to manage the
family landholdings and raise the children. A troubling number of
men are also increasingly being drawn into the various facets of
Sudan’s long-running civil war and armed conflicts.
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Land tenure security and access to credit
Women hold primary responsibility for managing the traditional
agricultural sector, as well as collecting water and firewood for
household consumption. Despite these substantial contributions to
domestic life, sustenance, and family health and wellbeing, women
farmers continue to face important barriers to owning land and
accessing the financial services that would make possible smallscale
entrepreneurship or the kinds of local ingenuity that can lead
to pathways out of poverty. Women contribute more than 80 per
cent of traditional agricultural sector labour, yet the overwhelming
majority of farms are held in the names of male family members, and
a negligible five to six per cent of land titles are jointly held. With no
legal claim to the land they farm, women are prohibited from using
their land as collateral to access credit.
Zenab for Women in Development has made land tenure securitization
and access to finance priority areas of their programming. The
organization provides micro-loans to women farmers so they can
purchase the tools and labour that will make possible improvements
in the productivity of their land and rental of additional land to expand
their agricultural outputs. They have also acted as guarantors on loans
for women applying for credit from banks. This advocacy and support
is leading to a change in the normative orientation of lending in the
state, importantly towards a credit climate that is more favourable to
and inclusive of women.
Agricultural extension services
Exclusion from land ownership and formal credit systems are not the
only barriers faced by women in rural Sudan. Equally oppressive and
economically debilitating has been the inability of women to access
agricultural training, technical support, and extension services.
Zenab for Women in Development aims to fill this gap in service
provision, primarily through the efforts of the women farmers’ union
it helped to establish.
Training is provided to women farmers on crop diversification,
including the introduction of cash crops such as cotton and sesame,
which combine with more traditional crop varieties to provide a
broader income base and make the farmers less dependent on
single crops. The organization also works through a train-thetrainers
programme to provide agricultural extension services that
enable women to access improved seed varieties and fertilizers. The
result has been substantial improvements in local food security,
agricultural outputs, and household incomes. These new sources of
income have been invested into school fees, textbooks and uniforms
for children – a noteworthy investment in a region where families
often cannot send their children to school because the costs are
prohibitively expensive relative to meeting sustenance needs.
Improving access to education
In addition to raising household incomes, which have had spill-over
effects on school enrolment, Zenab for Women in Development
is active in removing the obstacles and disincentives that exist
for parents to send their children – especially girls – to school.
Importantly, the organization has leveraged its networks to construct
wells and toilets at primary schools that previously lacked these
basic facilities to ensure a higher standard of potable water access
and sanitation. They have also arranged for the installation of water
storage tanks to ensure students have reliable access to clean drinking
water. Provision of these services has been complemented by efforts
to build schoolhouses and additional classrooms. With an improved
educational environment and functioning sanitation facilities, parents
are much more likely to send their children to school.
Empowerment of women
Perhaps the most significant impact of the organization’s work – and
in particular the women famers’ union – has been the empowerment
of women, and the creation of social cohesion that has resulted
from the development and growth of the network of women
farmers groups. These groups have been catalytic in changing how
women are perceived and treated in their communities, serving
as an instrument of positive social change and transformation.
Women are now able to access micro-finance and bank loans,
previously only available to men. This has had positive implications
for land management and productivity, which has improved
women’s livelihoods and economic security. Gains in individual
earning capacity have translated to improvements in community
infrastructure – many women have voluntarily invested in creating
gathering spaces for women’s groups to hold meetings and plan
actions to address persistent environmental, social and economic
problems. The women of the Wad Deef community, as another
example, invested in bringing electricity to their village. Crucially,
the women in Zenab for Women in Development networks are now
better informed of their rights and more aware of how to access the
services and assistance they are entitled to. Beyond its agriculture
networks, the organization has empowered women through its civic
training – educating women on democratic processes, Sudan’s laws
and constitution, women’s rights and the importance of women’s
participation in elections both as voters and candidates.
POLICY IMPACTS
Through its engagement with women’s participation in Sudan’s
electoral processes, Zenab aims to have an indirect impact on
policies affecting its women farmer constituents. In the run-up to
the landmark referendum in 2011 that led to the creation of South
Sudan, Zenab played a leading role in fostering women’s political
participation in Gedaref. Over three months, Zenab helped to raise
awareness around the Southern Sudan Referendum and encourage
a peaceful and effective voting process. This included conducting
two three-day workshops for women leaders in the states of Kassala
and Gedaref and facilitating ten forums taking place across Gedaref
state encouraging women to take part in the voting process.
Collectively, these gatherings produced 50 participants trained as
local observers, 40 of whom were women. All observers were trained
to observe polling, counting, and tabulation processes. Zenab staff
members were trained as trainers, and were involved in training
representatives from political parties across Gedaref, Kassala and
Red Sea states.
196

Sustainability and Replication
SUSTAINABILITY
Zenab relies on funding and other support from a number of key
partners as outlined in detail below. Although not financially selfsufficient,
the network model of women’s self-help groups facilitates
mutually supportive programming whereby women farmers are
positioned to assist each other without relying too heavily on
external inputs. Zenab is in the process of working to expand its
support base to include local government authorities and NGOs.
A key element of Zenab’s organizational sustainability is the
involvement of women farmers not only as recipients and
beneficiaries of its activities, but as the principal actors and agents of
positive local change. A participatory approach ensures that women
are involved in all stages of planning and implementation of Zenab’s
activities. The majority of activities are undertaken specifically
because they have been prioritized by participating women.
REPLICATION
The growth of Zenab’s network, particularly since 2008, has been
impressive. Beginning with an association of 10 women’s groups
formed into a single network across two municipalities in Gedaref,
Zenab has since expanded to include 585 women’s groups in 58
networks across 12 municipalities. The rate of growth and the
success with which replication has been achieved is nothing short
of phenomenal. The multiplier effect can be attributed, at least
partially, to Zenab’s train-the-trainer programme, which provides
technical and capacity building training to women leaders from
individual villages who are then enlisted to serve as extension
officers and support workers in their communities and beyond. To
date, the networks have been confined to Gedaref, but the model
has shown potential for replication in Darfur and could be adopted
in other agricultural provinces.
Zenab also participates as an active member in a number of
knowledge-sharing and advocacy networks in Sudan, illustrating
the power of collective bargaining for bringing about change.
Among these networks are the Human Rights and Legal Aid Network
(HRLAN), the Sudanese Network for HIV/AIDS and the Sudanese
Network for FGM Eradication, as well as national CSO networks
for Darfur, poverty eradication, and civic education and election
monitoring. Regionally, Zenab is a member of the Strategic Initiative
for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), a network of CSOs from
Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti
and Uganda.
PARTNERS
Zenab maintains partnerships with key donor and implementing
agencies, including UNFPA, UNICEF, FAO, UNDP and UNIFEM. Other
supporters include the National Endowment for Democracy, the
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDA), the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) and the embassies of
Finland, Japan and France, among others.
Zenab’s agricultural programme receives support from Mama
Cash, Madre, African Women’s Development Fund, the OPEC Fund
for International Development (OFID) and the gender equality
programme of the Association of the Netherlands Municipalities
(VNG). VNG also provides support through its gender equity
programme to improve the leadership skills of rural women, and
encourage them to run for election on local councils.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Province of Gedaref
support the organization in the provision of technical assistance
and improved seed varieties of certain cash crops. Zenab also works
with UNDP Sudan on the provision of legal aid, civic education and
capacity building.
197

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments,
civil society, businesses and grassroots organizations to recognize and
advance local sustainable development solutions for people, nature
and resilient communities.
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